HI I have some VMs running on the D: of my server 2008, server and I back them up using windows server backup to my E:. Each month i back up my E: to Tape. I was trying to test and make sure that i can restore my E: backup from tape and then to restore my VMs using windows server backup to restore my D: VMs. When i restored the E: backup from tape and was trying to restore the VMs from the E: using windows server backup, for some reason when I open windows server backup, I'm not seeing any earlier versions of my backup. i don't think WSB is accessing the backup catalog within the backup folder to get the versions of the backup i restored from tape. can anyone assist

Hi Kevin,Please help confirm the following information:1. After backup VM to Drive E, can you get the "earlier versions" options (before restore from Tape)?2. Please let me know the program you are using to backup Drive E to Tape.3. If avaiable, please help test this step: backup Drive E to another hard disk partition instead of Tape (such as "Drive F"), then restore F to E and check if we can get the "earlier versions" options when trying to restore E to D.In addition, for Windows Server Backup related issue, it is recommended to post in following forum. It supports questions for the default backup utility in Windows Vista, Server 2008 and beyond. Backup – Windows and Windows Serverhttp://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsbackup/threads

Hi Shaon1. After backup VM to Drive E, can you get the "earlier versions" options (before restore from Tape)?Yes i can.. It gives me earlier versions and i can restore as normal. The program i am using to back up to tape EMC Networker.3. If avaiable, please help test this step: backup Drive E to another hard disk partition instead of Tape (such as "Drive F"), then restore F to E and check if we can get the "earlier versions" options when trying to restore E to D.I think i'll get the same result. The problem doesn't seem to be the restored data, but that WSB not reading the backup catalog where it would get the index of backup versions within the folder. It seems like once the E: is restored from any media, WSB Can't restore any earlier versions.BTW thanks for the link ... will use it in the future....

Hi, In order to test the issue, I tried following steps: 1. Backup a folder in Drive D (it is a virtual machine folder) to Drive E. 2. Backup Drive E to Drive F (hard disk as I cannot find a Tape). 3. Try the restore from E to D. Of course it will work. 4. Format Drive E. 5. Restore Drive E to Drive D --- this will still work. Thus Windows Server Backup should still read the hard disk until the part which saved the WindowsImageBackup folder is overwritten. 6. Restore Drive F to E and E to D. both steps will work. 7. Format Drive E again. 8. Copy (not restore) WindowsImageBackup folder from Drive F to E in order to overwrite the block which stored original data. 9. Of course Restore from E to D will fail, with the information "Unable to browse Data (D:). The shadow copy of the backup stored on the backup destination cannot be found". 10. Restore Drive F to Drive E --- successful. 11. Restore Drive E to Drive D --- it back to work. From the test, it seems that the issue on your side should be caused by the Tape or the EMC Networker Module. I cannot confirm if backup the WindowsImageBackup folder to Tape will cause the issue or not as currently I cannot get a Tape for testing. As for EMC Networker Module, you can try to contact the support of the program to see if it will cause his kind of issue, or if there are any specific steps we need to perform in order to get the restored copy work on the second restore. Sorry for unavailable to do more tests on the issue.

Hey, OK.... i did some testing and here is what happened. Firstly 1. I ran the WSB backup from the D to the E. 2. I then copied the WindowsImageBackup folder from the E to the F. 3. I formatted the E and then copied back the WindowsImageBackup folder from the F to the E. 4. I did a restore and it want through successfully. Secondly 1. I ran the WSB backup from the D to the E. 2. I then copied the WindowsImageBackup folder from the E to the F. (Lets call this VERSION 1 shadow copy) 3. I ran two more WSB Backups from the D to the E but didn't copy them to F. (lets call this VERSION 2 and 3 shadow copies) In other words, WSB is seeing 3 versions on backup 4. I formatted the E 5. I copied VERSION 1 Shadow copy from F back to the E 6. tried to restore E to D but it failed with the information "Unable to browse Data (D:) conclusion It seems like once multiple versions of backups are made, WSB seems to have problems restoring earlier versions that were backup on tape or hard disk.