Problem with restore and no success in merge 1

[squalo]

Hi all. I have a great problem: i need to restore some files from a backup on 5 media. Now my first media has been formatted and i need to recover files on the second media. I tried to merge data of the secon media, but Brightstore says "Invalid session header signature. (SIG=ffffffff). I tried to do a sequential merge, using regedt32 and adding the "DonotUseCatalogData" value, but it still gives the same error. I didn't succeed in doing a sequential merge nor a sequential scan. What's wrong?
I need urgent help, please.
Thanks in advance.

 

[davidmichel]

Background info:

A merge always has to start at the session header.

When a single session spans across multiple tapes the 1st tape is needed to merge in data.

When there are multiple sessions on a tape other than seq.1 then any session that starts on that tape can be merged.

Now as to the problem at hand, this does not look good. It looks like this tape can not be read. As a test try a merge from one of the other tapes to see if they merge ok. Also run a scan to see if it finds any sessions.

OH, and now is the time to check for ARCserve updates.

 

[squalo]

Davidmichel, thanks for your answer.
I tried a merge with the second and the tirdh tape, but no luck. Can I try something to read the files physically on the tape? Thanks.

 

[davidmichel]

There is a program that will let you do it but it would probably be better to just use a data recovery service.

However before going down that path check to see if this is a problem with just this set of tapes or if it is a problem with all tapes. Chances are verify is not being done. It could be something like a parity error that would cause a restore from any tape to fail, or it could be a problem with just this set of tapes.

So if restore fails from all tapes even a new test backup then the data on tape could be fine and all you have to do is find the source of the problem and all your data will restore ok.

 

[squalo]

>There is a program that will let you do it
Can you tell me the name of the program, please?

 

[davidmichel]

http://www.emaglink.com/MMPC.htm

 

[squalo]

Thanks a lot davidmichel. Unfortunately MMPC can't recover from sequential tapes, so I can't work with it on my 2nd and 3rd tapes...
Seems the only solution is someone doing data recovery services.
Any other solution?
Thanks