localmagic
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NTBackup verify fails over network from Server 2003 R2
I have a Windows Server 2003 R2 box, used as a file server, and backup DNS server for our domain. I use BackupAssist to schedule NTBackup to do weekly full backups and daily differentials. The backups are stored on a SATA hard drive in a removable tray on a Windows 7 (64 bit) PC on the same LAN.
Starting a couple months ago, the full backups fail to verify very close to the end. For a while, if I re-ran the full backup manually the following day, it would succeed with no issues. Now they fail 100% consistently either scheduled or manual. The smaller daily backups always succeed.
I have updated the NIC drivers on the server, and tested using only a single NIC. I disabled all of the advanced options on the NICs. I have swapped to a different drive tray, which was confirmed good hardware by SpinRite the night before I brought it in. None of these made any difference.
The only successful full backup I've done has been to a USB drive attached directly to the server.
Have I missed something stupid?
Starting a couple months ago, the full backups fail to verify very close to the end. For a while, if I re-ran the full backup manually the following day, it would succeed with no issues. Now they fail 100% consistently either scheduled or manual. The smaller daily backups always succeed.
I have updated the NIC drivers on the server, and tested using only a single NIC. I disabled all of the advanced options on the NICs. I have swapped to a different drive tray, which was confirmed good hardware by SpinRite the night before I brought it in. None of these made any difference.
The only successful full backup I've done has been to a USB drive attached directly to the server.
Have I missed something stupid?
I had a similar issue and ended up having to turn off shadow copy on the drive the back up was being saved to. I again had a similar issue when a tech defraged the back up drive. I ended up having to delete the back files as the issue seemed to be with rewriting over the defraged back up files. Once it was just writing a new file opposed to writing over the old file it worked. see if either of these help you
Thoughtlessmind
Thoughtlessmind
ASKER
Shooter: It is an NTFS volume, i should have mentioned that before! The full backups are running about 120GB lately.
Thoughtlessmind: I just checked, and shadow copies were already off for the tray. However, Win7's auto-defrag was enabled for that drive. I've disabled that, deleted a full backup and started it running a new one into the same slot. I'll have an update in a couple hours!
Thoughtlessmind: I just checked, and shadow copies were already off for the tray. However, Win7's auto-defrag was enabled for that drive. I've disabled that, deleted a full backup and started it running a new one into the same slot. I'll have an update in a couple hours!
I've had verify and Write Caching errors before on NT Backup that were fixed by a format of the external drive as well, hope thoughtlessmind's solution works for you!
Shooter
Shooter
ASKER
The following tests have now also failed (in this order):
* Disable auto-defrag, delete a backup, run a new backup to the same filename (which now creates a new file instead of overwriting).
* Swap to a brand-new drive (scheduled to be added to rotation in a week, I did it early for testing). This drive has never had any data on it, it was formatted and installed. VSS and auto-defrag still disabled (and will stay that way...).
* On the new drive, disable write caching, delete previous test file, backup again.
I'm quite thoroughly stumped at this point!
* Disable auto-defrag, delete a backup, run a new backup to the same filename (which now creates a new file instead of overwriting).
* Swap to a brand-new drive (scheduled to be added to rotation in a week, I did it early for testing). This drive has never had any data on it, it was formatted and installed. VSS and auto-defrag still disabled (and will stay that way...).
* On the new drive, disable write caching, delete previous test file, backup again.
I'm quite thoroughly stumped at this point!
is it giving you an error message when the back up fails to verify and if so can you post it?
ASKER
Here are the relevant items from the server's event logs, the NTBackup log, and the log from BackupAssist. The script section in the BackupAssist log is part of a Microsoft recommended tweak to speed up NTBackup (They use it for exchange clusters, but it works anywhere, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb735157.aspx for details).
The Win7 box that is the destination of this backup never logs anything during the relevant time window, or if it does, I haven't found it yet!
eventlog.txt
ntbackup-log.txt
BackupAssist-log.txt
The Win7 box that is the destination of this backup never logs anything during the relevant time window, or if it does, I haven't found it yet!
eventlog.txt
ntbackup-log.txt
BackupAssist-log.txt
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Just a thought
Shooter