Backup Problems

[Mighty]

I have a Windows Server 2003 box and I am having consistent problems with backup. I am using NTBackup and I have the following command which is scheduled to run every night:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntbackup.exe backup "@C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows NT\NTBackup\data\Info Store Backup.bks" /n "Full Backup" /d "Full Backup" /v:yes /r:no /rs:no /hcn /m normal /j "Full Backup" /l:f /p "4mm DDS" /um

All I am trying to backup is the C and D drive. This only works about 1 in 10/15 times. Usually when I come into work in the morning the ntbackup process is still running on the server (about 9 hours at that stage). So I just kill the process and run a manual backup and that always works fine and takes about an hour..

I have 5 tapes which I cycle through - 1 for each weekday. Any ideas what I can do to sort this problem out. I basically need to be able to come in to work in the morning to find the backup complete.

Mighty

 

[porkchopexpress]

After the 9 hours is there anything on the tape or does it hang before beginnng?

Any signs of problems in the backup log or event log?

 

[Mighty]

It doesn't even create a backup log file. I have never actually checked the tape. I always assumed that it did nothing becuase it hadn't created the backup log file. Nothing in the event viewer either.

Mighty

 

[Mighty]

Actually, I made one error in my initial post. I am not backup up c and d drive on that server. I am just backing up the Exchange information store.

Mighty

 

[porkchopexpress]

I've had no end of problems with NTBackup just with a particular drive and it was doing something similare. In the end i setup a pre job about 15 mins before to backup just the systam state and this seemed to make the next job run fine. No idea why and prob won't work in your situation but if nothing else works it might be worth a try.

Another thing to check is if you come in and it's still sat there, eject the tape and replace then see if the job starts it could be a physical problem.

 

[Mighty]

Thanks for the suggestions - I'll try that and let you know.

Mighty