Integrity of Snapshots in Transferred Backup Set

[cgiandomenico]

The following applies to Retrospect 7.7.341 (64-bit) running on 64 bit Windows 7 Home.

 

I have just "recovered" a backup set (that threw errors during grooming) by transferring it to a new backup set. During the the transfer, 9660 errors were generated. The new backup set contained about ~9000 fewer files and was 4% smaller than the source backup set. It contained 1 less session (from the middle of the session list) but the same number of snapshots. Many sessions in the new backup set have fewer files than the source backup set. Subsequently, the new backup set was groomed successfully and appears to be error free except for the fact that it contains fewer files than the source.

 

My question is: Can I rely on the integrity of the snapshots in this transferred Backup set?

 

I was forced to transfer the backup set after an automatic grooming failed with the following error: "Grooming Backup Set HPE350-1 failed, error -2241 ( Catalog File invalid/damaged)." The backup set continued to throw this error even after its catalog was repaired. In a last ditch effort to salvage the backup set, I used Retrospect's "Transfer Backup Sets" feature to transfer the damaged backup set to a new empty backup set. A large number of errors were generated during transfer but the resultant backup set can be groomed and appears to be error free.

 

During transfer there were half a dozen initial errors of the type shown below:

Additional error information for Disk Backup Set member "1-HPE350-1",

Can't read to file X:\Retrospect\HPE350-1\1-HPE350-1\AA000214.rdb, error -1101 ( file/directory not found)

Trouble reading: "1-HPE350-1" (31969656), error -102 ( trouble communicating)

Trouble positioning: "1-HPE350-1" (32172945), error -102 ( trouble communicating)

 

Followed by thousands of the following 2 types of error:

Bad Backup Set header found (0x020d4a33 at 132,397,797)

Backup Set format inconsistency (10 at 137369677)

 

Note: Both the original and new backup sets are on the same external USB drive. I intend to delete the original.