Feature Request - Restore an entire folder from the last ful

[juergen.eisenbarth]

Hello,

we have the Problem to restore a complete directory from our last Full Backup on tape (from a Directory on our Veeam-Server). Veeam would like to have all tapes from previous backups, but not the tapes from the last full. The Support says this is by design as described in user guide.

In the user guide "Restoring files from Tape" it is described:
When you restore an entire folder from tape, Veeam Backup & Replication restores all files that have ever existed in the folder and been archived to tape. To restore files in the folder, Veeam Backup & Replication scans the selected backup set and backup sets that were created previously. If a file is not found in the selected backup set, Veeam Backup & Replication will restore the most recent version of the file from a backup set preceding the selected backup set.

Single files can i restore without problems from the last full backup.

We need a way to use only the last backup set to restore Directorys from tape.

[ruud smits]

Just ran into the same issue and response from support.
FIX THIS VEEAM!!!!!!
This is not a workable solution you provide.

a file by file restore is really not an option with a folder with many files!

In my opinion this is a really basic function that should be available.

[veremin]

It's a known issue, indeed. Also, we plan to fix it in one of the next product versions. However, at that moment we cannot provide any ETA. Thanks.

[morganaw]

We ran into this during a DR test yesterday when trying to restore a folder backed up to tape.
We are backing up a 6 TB Windows file share. If we needed to restore the entire thing and the only option we had was to restore from tape (which luckily it isn't, 3-2-1) it would require every tape we had ever backed up this share with as well as much more than 6 TB of space, since it would be restoring every file ever to be on this file share. +1 for this feature request/bug to be fixed.

[bnieman]

Hello,

We run backups every Friday to be sent offsite for a couple months. The main reason why our backup schedule is set as such is for having the ability to recall tapes from any week to restore data only from those tapes. I’m running a complete backup of a shared folder with many child folders on a physical server. The size of the of these folders is quite large and does take a couple days to complete. The size of the folders or the length of time to complete the file to tape backup is fine. The part that worries me is the restore process. If I need to perform a restore, I’m required to provide tapes from a couple months ago. I’ve been working with support regarding this issue but was recently told that when restoring a folder from a file to tape job, Veeam will attempt to restore every file that has been in that folder. Currently, there is no way to bypass those required files during the restore process. Does anybody perform file to tapes jobs that use a similar process? I would love some tips on the restore process. It would be a great feature add for Veeam to provide the ability when restoring to identify which files Veeam is attempting to restore from all tapes as well as the option to not restore particular files. I think this would allow companies that do perform file to tape jobs more flexibility when restoring data.

Support Case #: 02063412

[Andreas Neufert]

You are right, it works that way at the moment. Sorry

Fastest workaround is to create another BR server and import only the medias that hold the actual restorepoint that you want to restore.

If you think that it is something else and it is a bug, please work with support to escalate the ticket.

[MaHo]

Hello everyone,
If I want to restore a folder (many files and many subfolders) from a tape of my last 'File to tape Backup' I get a warning: 'The following tapes will be needed in the restore process'; followed by a listing of several tapes from my weekly and monthly backups.
I've read some similar posts and have opened a cause at support (# 02096155) too. Ok, actually it's not possible doing this. Veeam restore in this case all files that were ever in the past in the folder. Therefore I need a lot of tapes only for restoring one folder existing on a tape. That is not workable and costly in terms of time!
Now I have two questions.
1. Do you plan to remove this issue?
2. What will happen if a tape is missing in the sequence to restore the folder?

Regards
Markus

[veremin]

1. Do you plan to remove this issue?

Correct.

2. What will happen if a tape is missing in the sequence to restore the folder?

Without requested tape the restore process won't proceed any further.

For now you can leverage the workaround mentioned above.

Thanks.

[brodar]

Hello,

I have this Problem too.
I want restore only a FullBackup of my Folder from last weekend. (The Files are backuped on One Tape (Tape019-full for example) at last Weekend).
Now, Veeam Software want that I have to put all other Tapes (for example Tape001/-Tape018-full) to restore the Folder and Data, because there are different changes on folder and data differents dates.
I cant put so many tapes in my library (it costs to much time to select this tapes and i havent chance put so many tapes in my library because i havent so many free slots).
Please change This. I cant restore easily my files from last backup.
(I want, that I have the option, restore all files from last Fullbackup from that one last Fullbackup-Tape (Tape019-full).)

Kind Regards
Broda

[ChrisJ0907]

Would this happen with backup jobs copied to tape too or just file to tape? Luckily I never backed up my CIFS shares to tape, and I'm now using file servers and then using tape as a secondary.

[veremin]

I want restore only a FullBackup of my Folder from last weekend. (The Files are backuped on One Tape (Tape019-full for example) at last Weekend).

This looks unexpected as only tapes starting from the latest full backup should be needed. In your case it should just on (the latest) tape, since the latest cycle has been a full one.

May I ask you to select the latest backup set ("Backup Set") in restore wizard and see whether it changes something or not?

Thanks.

[MattP95]

I have also come across this bug today, and I ended up escalating the case to a Veeam Manager and was just told to add my case to this forum thread.

I really do not understand the logic that in order to restore a folder from 03/2017, I would also need tapes from a backup set from 09/2016.

Veeam are still unable to give an ETA on fixing this and people have been asking since November 2016 on this thread. Hopefully it'll be resolved soon.

[Dima P.]

Hi folks,

Veeam are still unable to give an ETA on fixing this and people have been asking since November 2016 on this thread. Hopefully it'll be resolved soon.

We plan to fix this issue in the upcoming versions of Veeam B&R. Cant provide the ETA but can say that we are working on the solution right now.

[MattP95]

Here's a better workaround in my opinion:

1. Remove the catalog from the affected tapes in the backup set(s). (Tapes must be offline for this)
2.Re-catalog the tapes once online.
3. Restore your file(s) without being asked for tapes from previous backups!

I hope this helps others

[juergen.eisenbarth]

Hello,

I am also urgently waiting for a solution to this problem.
From the support I got the following workaround.

I am using the registry to create a new empty SQL database for Veeam and restart the services.
After restarting, all jobs and tape information are gone because the database is empty.
Then I create the tape server again. Now i can catalog the required tapes from the full backup set, that i need.
After cataloging, it is possible to restore exactly from these tapes.

After restoring, I change the temporary database to the original productive database via the registry.
Restart the services and reuse my original configuration.

I was able to test this workaround successfully.

However, if you do frequently restore from tape and different full backup sets, this workaround is no option.

Regards
Jürgen

[DavidReimers]

Here's a better workaround in my opinion:

1. Remove the catalog from the affected tapes in the backup set(s). (Tapes must be offline for this)
2.Re-catalog the tapes once online.
3. Restore your file(s) without being asked for tapes from previous backups!

I hope this helps others

We attempted this, but as we do weekly as well as monthly backups, it wants us to remove about 15 tapes in order to allow us to use just a single restore point.

+1 to Veeam fixing this asap or at least nominating an ETA. In our case, we have migrated from ARCserve to Veeam, and have lost restore functionality. With ARCserve, we could simply restore all the contents of a tape. Veeam doesn't allow this, hence we have this issue.

Unless we can get an ETA then we will need to consider stopping tape backups with Veeam and instead switching back to ARCserve.

[check4backup]

Hi,

It's the old thing. If i restore an complete Folder, Veeam asks for all Tapes from previous Backups.

I know, it's documented in the description.

See here:
post218471.html?hilit=tape%20request%20folder#p218471
Quote:
It's a known issue, indeed. Also, we plan to fix it in one of the next product versions. However, at that moment we cannot provide any ETA. Thanks.

Is there an appointment?

Many greetings.

[veremin]

Unfortunately we still сannot provide any ETA, but you can be sure this feature has a high priority in our books. Thanks.

[simcomit]

I can't believe this still isn't fixed. Add us to the list of impacted users impatiently awaiting this functionality. I can't believe this got a lower priority than other stuff and has been open since 2016, the future may not include tape but WE'RE NOWHERE NEAR THAT POINT YET!!

[Dima P.]

The plan to change this behavior in upcoming Update 4. Thank you.

[simcomit]

Dima P, excellent news!! Thanks for sharing!

[alex.talmage]

I'm presuming this wasn't fixed? I've got around 1000 files that I need to restore from the latest backup set, but when I select the folder, its requesting older tapes. Running 9.5 Update 4.

Is there an easier way to restore 1000 files from tape, rather than adding each individual file manually to the restore job?

[Dima P.]

Alex,

This behavior was reworked in Update 4 (and Veeam B&R will request only needed tapes instead of entire media set). Unfortunately this logic does not work for tapes written before Update 4.