Will not recognise backup file

[davistechnologiesqld]

Hi Brains Trust,
Newbie on this forum, so please go easy .
I have been using Backup & Replication for some time, it backs up my home server (just a test bench, really) every night to an external hard drive. It keeps 4 days of backups, and my understanding is, it will over-write the oldest every night.
Long story short, I suffered drive failure (I lost my RAID) and experienced data loss on my DATA drive. My OS Drive was separate, and wasn't affected. The Server still boots and acts normally, for all intensive purposes. I have since repaired the RAID, added new drives and it's working at an OS level. I can read, write, etc as I did before.
I am trying to restore the data from VEEAM's backup (which is on the external hard drive) both at a file level and a volume level. Problem is, NEITHER are recognized.
When I go onto the external hard drive through Windows Explorer (it's a 2TB drive) I can see 2 files, both VEEAM. One is a config file and one is a backup file. The backup file is 1.7TB, so it obviously contains data. I cannot for the life of me, work out why the application won't recognise it's own files.

IS THERE something I am DOING WRONG???

Please help in any way, literally happy to try anything, but I need this data. It's my only copy, and I really hope it's just something silly I am doing wrong.

Many thanks in advance!

[Mildur]

Hi Oliver

Welcome to the forum.
From your Post, I don't see/understand the steps so far you have taken todo the restore. Are this two files you see a .vbm and a *.vbk file?
I assume, you used a Veeam Agent to backup your home server to a the external usb drive used as a backup repository on the Veeam Backup & Replication Server? And now you want to use a Veeam Agent to restore your backup directly from the external drive?

In that case, Veeam Agent cannot read data from this external drive if it was used as a Veeam backup repository. The backup must first be imported to a backup repository on a Veeam Backup & Replication server. You can then use the recovery media to restore your home server from that backup repository. Or use Veeam Backup & Replication todo a file level restore.
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... ml?ver=110


Best,
Fabian

[davistechnologiesqld]

Hi Mildur,

Thanks for your reply.
I will try and answer your questions as best as possible.
I can confirm I use Veeam Agent to create a nightly backup of my fileserver. I can also confirm I have a 2TB external hard drive connected to the machine via USB, and it currently has 2 files, a VBK and a VBM File. One is very small, and the other is 1.7TB or thereabouts. The backup was initially set to retain 4 days of backups to reduce the size of the backup.

In any software I use, weather it be Backup & Replication or Veeam Agent, the backup file, even when I point directly to it, does not recognise the backup at either a file level restore or a entire restore. I have also tried creating a Bootable USB from both the Agent and the initial installer, which was Veeam Endpoint Backup (before it became Veeam Agent) and when I boot to either of those, it still does not recognise the backup.

In your second paragraph, you mention that I need to 'Import' the backup to a repository. Can you please elaborate on that a little more, perhaps this is what I am not doing correctly. I really need the data on this drive, and I am so hopeful it isn't all lost forever.

I have tried and tried to follow the documentation but cannot see anything relating to the above, so I am at a loss if I am even doing it correctly.

Thanks in advance.

[Mildur]

Hi Oliver

Try to import the backup file on your Veeam Backup & Replication Server:
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... ml?ver=120


Do you get a error message? Can you share a screenshot?

Best,
Fabian