Backup File Not Restoring – VSS error

NTBackup tool is the backup utility present in the Widows Operating System versions based on the NT version. These are 2000, 2003 and XP. Earlier Vista did not support NTBackup but now Microsoft has decided to make this NTBackup tool available to Windows Vista users also. Backups are important, backups are crucial and taking backup is the safest way to protect your significant data. NTBackup allows the users to save their important data files. These files are saved in MTF file format having .bkf extension and are also called BKF (Backup File).

Sometimes while performing the restoration of the BKF file in NTBackup, user can face some error that can curb the backup file restoration process and can lead to BKF corruption. For example, when you try to restore data from a BKF file on the domain controller (a server that has Active Directory service installed) running Windows Server 2003, you may come across the below VSS error message:
“Backup Status
Operation: Backup
Active backup destination: File
Media name: "bkup_file.bkf created MM/DD/YYYY at HH:MM AM|PM"
NTDS has reported a VSS error 0x800423f0...”

After the above error message appears, restoration process stops leading to BKF damage and then you need a backup recovery software tool to repair backup PC data.

The VSS, Volume Shadow Copy server, is different in the 32-bit versions and the 64-bit versions of Windows Operating System. A BKF file uses different catalogs even if it is created using the 32-bit VSS interface and needs a 32-bit VSS based backup tool for the process of restoration. Now, if you make an attempt to restore that BKF file with a 64-bit Windows version then the catalogs can corrupt and make BKF file inaccessible. Now, proper restoration in Windows Server 2003 happens only when the Operating System, the database and the log files are all on same disk volume or on different storage drives. But the above VSS error issue generally occurs when one volume (Log or DIT) is on the system drive. It results in BKF corruption and so the BKF file restoration process fails. A restore hard drive backup software tool to access and extract the data from these corrupt BKF files is the only option left with you.

The BKF file will not restore after such error message comes. So, to resolve the issue and to get an access to your data saved in the corrupted BKF file, you need to repair it by using an advanced and powerful backup recovery software tool. Such backup restore tools use high-end scanning algorithms to scan and repair corrupt BKF files.

SysTools BKF Repair software tool is
• A very simple and intuitive product that will help you reinstate the required data information from the corrupted BKF files of any size.
• This easy to understand application has highly graphical and interactive interface.
• You can first use the Demo version which is FREE to evaluate. It gives the preview of some recovered files.
• The search option is available for you. Using the search option you can see the number of files of different extensions being recovered. Extensions supported by BKF Repair preview are TXT, INI, XML, CONFIG, RTF, H, C, PHP, CPP, JSP, ASPX, ASP, CS, VB, IDL, JAVA, CSS, HTML, HTM, HTA, LOG, JS, PNG, ICO, INF, GIF, JPG and BMP. You can search the number of files of a particular extension by typing the extension in the search box.
• If you feel that all the files or most of your corrupted files have been recovered, then you can purchase the Full version of SysTools BKF Repair software to extract and save the recovered files.

In short, if you try the restore option in the NTBackup and get a VSS error leading to BKF file corruption. There is no need to panic. SysTools BKF Repair tool will help you get the data back.