Hey guys I've been having an issue that I've been researching for weeks that I can't figure out. Here's my setup: I have about 8 servers that I need to backup data. I have a Windows Storage Server that has a 700GB HD in it for backups. At each of the 8 servers I schedule full backups to run as the domain administrator to a share on the backup server. For troubleshooting purposes I've allowed full access to everyone on the share. I use the full UNC in my scheduled backups and no mapped drives because I've been told that mapped drives don't work well when not logged in. When I log in via RDP and run the task it completes no with no problems. I get the following error when logged into the console Windows - Delayed Write Failed Windows was unable to save all the data for the file \webapp-01\webapp01fullbackup.bkf. The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. Please try to save this file elsewhere. I get the following error from the report on each of the 8 servers. Some of them sometimes fail on C: some on the system state.. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Backup Status Operation: Backup Active backup destination: File Media name: "webapp01fullbackup.bkf created 8/18/2007 at 11:00 AM" Volume shadow copy creation: Attempt 1. Backup (via shadow copy) of "C: " Backup set #1 on media #1 Backup description: "Set created 8/18/2007 at 10:58 AM" Media name: "webapp01fullbackup.bkf created 8/18/2007 at 11:00 AM" Backup Type: Normal Backup started on 8/18/2007 at 11:00 AM. Backup completed on 8/18/2007 at 11:09 AM. Directories: 3442 Files: 35781 Bytes: 4,373,378,048 Time: 8 minutes and 24 seconds Backup (via shadow copy) of "D: " Backup set #2 on media #1 Backup description: "Set created 8/18/2007 at 10:58 AM" Media name: "webapp01fullbackup.bkf created 8/18/2007 at 11:00 AM" Backup Type: Normal Backup started on 8/18/2007 at 11:09 AM. Error: The device reported an error on a request to write data to media. Error reported: Unknown error. There may be a hardware or media problem. Please check the system event log for relevant failures. The operation was ended. Backup completed on 8/18/2007 at 11:44 AM. Directories: 780 Files: 55427 Bytes: 11,977,672,068 Time: 34 minutes and 50 seconds Error: D: is not a valid drive, or you do not have access. The operation was ended. Backup completed on 8/18/2007 at 11:44 AM. Directories: 780 Files: 55427 Bytes: 11,977,672,068 Time: 34 minutes and 50 seconds ---------------------- The operation did not successfully complete. ----------------------

A rough look seems to be you don't have access to the D drive. I read it wrong and answer it wrong too. So get off my case you goober.

If I'm not mistaken, ntbackup won't do mapped drives. That is to say, will not backup to a remote server across the network (using a mapped drive). What I've always done in the past is used a batchfile to: a) map a network drive b) perform the backup c) copy the backup file (using xcopy) to the network drive. Here's a quick example of the batchfile: ***Begin Batchfile*** @echo off rem clear mapped network drives net use * /d /y rem map network drive to backup folder on server net use m: \\pcname\sharedfolder /persistent:yes rem perform the backup C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntbackup.exe backup "@C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows NT\NTBackup\data\Daily Backup.bks" /n "Daily Backup.bkf created 3/25/2004 at 9:27 PM" /d "Set created 3/25/2004 at 9:27 PM" /v:yes /r:yes /rs:no /hc:off /m normal /j "Daily Backup" /l:s /f "F:\Backup\Daily Backup.bkf" rem copy the backup to the server xcopy f:\backup\"daily backup.bkf" m:\ /y rem release mapped drive net use * /d /y rem exit the batch file exit ***End Batchfile*** First, the batchfile clears mapped drives. In my case, this is a batchfile I use on my systems at home to back them all up to one PC. So, since I don't have a pile of mapped drives, I just make sure all mapped drives are diconnected (net use * /d /y). When I've used this in a work environment with multiple mapped drives, I disconnected only the one drive I map to the main backup folder. The next thing is map the drive (in the case of this batchfile, I used m:. Then the backup operation itself. To get the command line, created a scheduled backup task using ntbackup. Once you're finished, open the scheduled task and copy the command line for the backup out of it and paste it in your batchfile. Then the xcopy operation which moves the file to your central backup folder. Then finally, disconnect the mapped drive. Once you've tailored this to your environment, (paths, server names, shares, etc) test it. Make sure it works. Once it's working properly, make a scheduled task that calls the batchfile. A word of advice. Since you have multiple servers, stagger the timing of the backups on them so as not to overload the target server with 10 or 11 backups being copied to it at one time. Then, schedule your backup on the backup server for after all files are copied. I've used this exact method many times in business and it's always worked well. One last thing. It seems tedious to always disconnect the drive within the batchfile but trust me on this ok, you want to. Windows has a bad habit of losing mappings. The only way I found to ensure the backups always run and copy properly across the network was to ensure the drive was freshly mapped. Don't forget, check your backups EVERY morning to ensure they've all run properly over night. This should be almost the first thing any system admin does every morning.

With 8 servers don't you think its time to graduate from a workstation/standalone server backup to an enterprise one? What is your job worth? What is the company data worth? Where is your disaster recovery plan? No off site storage? So if a fire burns up your 8 servers you just start collecting unemployment? Think about it.... Are you ready for where Microsoft wants you to go today?

Jefro: Sometimes it fails on C: sometimes on System State. Sometimes the full backup completes successfully.. so it's not that I dont have access to D: :-/ Plus I'm running it as a Domain Admin Curt R: Space is an issue on some servers so we wouldn't be able to run a full backup locally then copy it over (which is what the batch file does). Wanderer: Actually I JUST started this job. I am fresh out of school with 0 years networking experience (I have tech support experience). They are a smaller company who was working with a consultant before me who had them hire me to organize everything you have stated. The servers were being housed in another city and backups/offsite storage were not controlled internally- they paid for it. They are expanding and want to bring as much as possible in house and have hired me to grow with the company. Our storage server acts like the hard drives are tape drives and can be taken off site. They would really like to stick with ntbackup since it is free compared to $8,000+ for software that will do nearly the same thing. But we may have to do something different. Now back to the problem: We have another server with extra removable storage that we have our vital backups currently backing up too (over the network) and they are doing it just as I've described above. We're having no issues with backing up to that network share so I'd assume it is something on the storage server's side. We eventually want to move all the backups onto the storage server. Thank you guys for your replies and keep in mind I've just entered the field so I welcome any and all criticism/suggestions.

Update: I realized after my post that the storage server was shipped with SP1. I installed SP2 and have not had the issue after testing 2 backups. I'm going to keep testing tonight and see if this fixed the issue.

For back up on Mapping Drive. I back up 3 different Servers to one, using mapping. It's possible.( Yeah, you need to logon to domain prior to run backup, even after restart server from Microsoft Update). Just added switch /um to the end of your schedule.