Windows 2003 Storage Server R2 single instance issue

[MKumar Nagappa]

Server - Ml310 G4 running windows 2003 storage server R2 with sp1 , it is using sis common storage file system.

when backing up data to tape using backupexec , backup is fine but when restoring data , if data is restored to a another location other than the original location some files are corrupted. If restored to their original location they are ok.

This is due to the single instance storage file system of the storage server. Is there anything i can do to allow succesfull restoration of data to a redirected location.

Ntbackup works fine. Tried restoring to another server on the network still same error.

It is the SIS file system.

Open to suggestions/recommendations / advice.

Thank you

kumar

[Rune J. Winje]

An old article but still valid I think
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299726

Basically on your source volume there will be 3 important components:
1) A Groveler service that finds duplicate files and replaces duplicate files with a pointer to the "Master file" that is moved to a common folder
2) The SIS Common Store folder itself that is a hidden folder
3) A SIS filter driver that handles the access to the duplicate files.

Without 2 or 3 the duplicate files will indeed look like 0-length corrupted files.

The reason you do not get any problems restoring to the original location is probably because the hidden folder is there and the SIS filter driver is active.

Note however that if your backup does not include the hidden folder, you may effectively be fooling yourself into thinking you have a valid backup, when you are actually missing an essential piece...

A work-around for backup purposes could be to backup via a network share as described here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/889714


Cheers,
Rune