Windows Backup Files Recovery

  • Thread starter Thread starter Landy Atkinson
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Landy Atkinson

I used the Windows 2000 Backup program to create a backup of my My
Documents folder to a newtork drive. I now want to restore some files
from the backup, but when I go to the Restore tab and then Tools menu,
select Catalog a backup, I get an error message that the backup file is
an unrecognized type.

Is there any "recovery" software (something akin to CHKDSK) that will
try to "fix" a backup file that has some sort of problem? The entire
backup file is about the size I expected, so it looks like Backup ran
and did most of what it was supposed to do. Maybe the file didn't get
closed properly. It is on a RAID1 drive the is not reporting errors, so
bad media is unlikely.

Any ideas how to recover files from this backup set will be appreciated.

-Landy
 
I used the Windows 2000 Backup program to create a backup of my My
Documents folder to a newtork drive. I now want to restore some files
from the backup, but when I go to the Restore tab and then Tools menu,
select Catalog a backup, I get an error message that the backup file is
an unrecognized type.

Is there any "recovery" software (something akin to CHKDSK) that will
try to "fix" a backup file that has some sort of problem? The entire
backup file is about the size I expected, so it looks like Backup ran
and did most of what it was supposed to do. Maybe the file didn't get
closed properly. It is on a RAID1 drive the is not reporting errors, so
bad media is unlikely.

Any ideas how to recover files from this backup set will be appreciated.

-Landy
Click to expand...


If the backup file does not have a .bkf extension, rename with a .bkf extension.
 
Jerold Schulman said:
If the backup file does not have a .bkf extension, rename with a .bkf
extension.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, that is not the problem. It already had the .bkf
extension. I used the wrong word in my original post. The error
message says it is an unrecognized "format", not "type". I am hoping
that the unrecognized format message means that either the file header
has an error or the file didn't get closed properly. Both of these
condiditions should be repairable by a program that understands the
Windows Backup file format.
 
Unfortunately, that is not the problem. It already had the .bkf
extension. I used the wrong word in my original post. The error
message says it is an unrecognized "format", not "type". I am hoping
that the unrecognized format message means that either the file header
has an error or the file didn't get closed properly. Both of these
condiditions should be repairable by a program that understands the
Windows Backup file format.
Click to expand...

When I search the Microsoft Knowledge base for Windows 2000 articles containing the boolean expression
backup and unrecognized and format
I received:
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=269826 "Error Message 'The Backup File Is Unusable' When You Try to Restore Backup File "
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=239892 "How to schedule unattended backups using a stand-alone tape library "
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=240856 "Removable Storage Manager Terms and Definitions "
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=250468 "How Removable Storage Manager and Programs Recognize Media "
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=256065 "Cannot Recover Data After Preparing Tape Media "
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=295159 "Scheduled Backups May Hang After Mounting Tape "
 
Jerold Schulman said:
When I search the Microsoft Knowledge base for Windows 2000 articles
containing the boolean expression
backup and unrecognized and format
I received:
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=269826 "Error Message 'The Backup File Is
Unusable' When You Try to Restore Backup File "
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=239892 "How to schedule unattended backups
using a stand-alone tape library "
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=240856 "Removable Storage Manager Terms and
Definitions "
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=250468 "How Removable Storage Manager and
Programs Recognize Media "
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=256065 "Cannot Recover Data After Preparing
Tape Media "
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=295159 "Scheduled Backups May Hang After
Mounting Tape "
Click to expand...

Thanks for the links. I had already read most of them. I was not able
to gain any insight into solving my current problem. I had Windows
Backup set to verify, but did not check the logs so don't know for sure
what I would have found there. I did not receive any error messages on
the screen. I guess one needs to check the backup logs after each
backup as Windows Backup doesn't seem to have a mechanism to send an
email to the Admin on error or success. I've now switched to Norton
Ghost 9.0 which does, but that doesn't help with the past!

The only reference to recovering a corrupt backup was in "Cannot Recover
Data After Preparing Tape Media" in which they suggest using a 3rd party
data recovery company to skip past a EOD marker which has accidentlly
been written at the beginning of the tape. I am not recovering off a
tape, but will contact some data recovery companies to see what they
have to say.

I'm still looking for any leads to a data recovery program (something
like Norton Disk Doctor) to process the backup file and attempt recovery.

-Landy
 
I chose the first in your list, My Backup for BKF file, and it worked.
Thanks a lot for saving me!! The program was available as a demo
download which would attempt recovery of the corrupt backup file and
provide a directory of the files it thought it could recover. If you
then wanted the recovery, you purchase the program for about $150 and
get your files back.

As it turns out, all except for the first 3 files in the backup set were
recoverable. No idea why the backup set started out bad, but so very
thankful you found these options.

-Landy
 
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