restoremethod should be overwrite, but this will attempt to restore the entire farm. Didn't you just want to restore the primary site collection? The easiest way to refresh data from PROD to DEV is from the console: stsadm -o backup -url http://site -filename site.stsadm.bak The copy the .bak file to the dev server and from the console... stsadm -o restore -url http://dev-site -filename site.stsadm.bak -overwrite Works every time!I trust that answers your question... Thanks C http://www.cjvandyk.com/blog

Yes, I did utilize -o backup -url & export to originally restore dev site but I also want to overwrite my dev site with catastrophic -o restore -directory -item. I do not want to overwrite my production site just dev site. I would like to do a full restore of my farm to dev site and then delete Portal site and restore from backup. I am running stsadm.exe -o restore -directory \\server\backup -recoverymethod=overwrite. Will the overwrite command let me specify the database name on SQL server. When I run restoremethode new I was allowed to name and direct components to the appropriate SQL server\logs\files. Any clarity will help.Marvin Motley - Enterprise Engineer

I have a full farm catastrophic backup generated from my production site via STSADM.exe I would like to restore my primary site to my development server. The development server was previously restored from STSADM.exe - backup -url. I want to overwrite my development site with my catastrophic backup from production. I have moved backup directory to development server and I see the backup via STSADM backuphistory but am unsure of the syntax since I have a site in place on my development server. I would like to utilize the following syntax to overwrite my primary site on the development server utilizing catastrophic backup. The syntax I would like to use is stsadm.exe -o restore -directory \\server\prodbackup -item "Farm\Windows SharePoint Services Web Application\PORTAL" Should restoremethod be overwrite or new?Marvin Motley - Enterprise Engineer