im running echange 2003 and i used NTbackup to backup the exchange information store on the server my priv1.edb is 50,619,528kb and trhe pub1.edb is 20,488kb the backup files is 10,875,163kb does NTbackup compess the data this much or is something not getting backed up correctly

NTBACKUP doesnt have software compression but it supports hardware compression http://support.microsoft.com/kb/814583

Are you backing up to disk or tape? If you attempt to do a restore is it an option to recover the desired databases? i.e. you should be able to act like you want to do a restore and walk through part of the process to see if the databases show as being recoverable but not execute it. If they are not showing as a recoverable item then you are more than likely not backing up the databases. I would also check your application event logs to see if the backup is truly finishing without error Troy Werelius www.Lucid8.com Search, Recover, & Extract Mailboxes, Folders, & Email Items from Offline EDB's and Live Exchange Servers with Lucid8's DigiScope

Hi Nick, Any updates?