Event ID 525 — Backup Set Integrity

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

When you run a backup operation, Windows Server Backup runs checks for consistency and hardware and software corruption to determine the integrity of the backup set.

Event Details

Resolve

Find bad clusters on source volumes and create a new backup

When you run a backup operation, Windows Server Backup checks the source volumes (volumes being backed up) for bad clusters. If bad clusters are found, the operation will complete, but with errors. To resolve this issue, follow these general steps:

1. Run chkdisk /r on the volume of concern. Depending on the number of bad clusters found, you may want to replace the disk containing the volume.
2. Re-run the backup.
3. Check for Event ID 4, which indicates that the backup completed with no errors.

To create a one-time backup or work with events, you must have membership in Backup Operators or Administrators, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. To run chkdsk, you must be a member of the Administrators group, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority.

Find bad clusters using chkdsk

To look for bad clusters exist on the volume:

1. On the computer that contains the volume that may have bad clusters, open a command prompt. Click Start, and then click Command Prompt.
2. At the prompt, type: chkdsk /r. This command will look for bad sectors on the disk and recover any readable information. 

Create a one-time backup using the command line

Make sure that the backup storage location specified by -backupTarget is online.

To perform a one-time backup:

1. Open an elevated Command Prompt window. Click Start, point to All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.

2. At the prompt, type: wbadmin start backup. Use parameters, as needed. (To view the parameters and help for this command, at a command line, type: wbadmin start backup /?).

   For example, to create a backup that will be stored on drive f, of volumes e:, d:\mountpoint, and \\?\Volume{cc566d14-4410-11d9-9d93-806e6f6e6963}, type: wbadmin start backup -backupTarget:f: -include:e:,d:\mountpoint,\\?\Volume{cc566d14-44a0-11d9-9d93-806e6f6e6963}\.

Confirm that a backup completed with no errors

To confirm that a backup operation completed with no errors:

1. Open Event Viewer. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Event Viewer.
2. In the left pane, double-click Applications and Service Logs, double-click Microsoft, double-click Windows, double-click Backup, and then click Operational.
3. In the Event ID column, look for event 4.
4. For this event, confirm that the the value in the Source column is Backup.

Verify

To verify that a backup set is complete and will be able to be used for recovery, you should do the following:

• Verify that the backup operation to create the backup set completed with no errors.
• Verify that the global catalog has information about the backup set.
• Verify that the local catalog has information about the backup set.
• Verify that the backup set itself is not corrupted by performing a recovery with the backup set.

To perform these procedures, you must have membership in Backup Operators or Administrators, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority.

Verify that a backup completed with no errors

To verify that a backup operation completed with no errors:

1. Open Event Viewer. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Event Viewer.
2. In the left pane, double-click Applications and Service Logs, double-click Microsoft, double-click Windows, double-click Backup, and then click Operational.
3. In the Event ID column, look for event 4.
4. For this event, confirm that the the value in the Source column is Backup.

Verify the global catalog

To verify that the global catalog has information about the backup set:

1. Open an elevated Command Prompt window. Click Start, point to All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
2. At the prompt, type: wbadmin get versions.
3. If the command output shows information about backups, then the global catalog is intact.

Verify the local catalog

To verify that the local catalog has information about the backup set:

1. Open an elevated Command Prompt window. Click Start, point to All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
2. At the prompt, type: wbadmin get versions -backuptarget:<VolumeName>.
3. If backup versions are listed, then the local backup catalog is not corrupted and is intact. 

Verify that a backup works for recovery

To verify that a backup will work for recovery, you should try recovering something from the backup.

Note: Make sure that you do not mistakenly overwrite newer data. To avoid this, you can perform a recovery to a different volume than was backed up as part of the backup set. You will receive a message that any data on the destination volume will be lost when you perform the recovery. Make sure that the destination volume is empty or does not contain information that you will need later.

To perform a recovery:

1. Open an elevated Command Prompt window. Click Start, point to All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.

2. At the prompt, type: wbadmin start recovery. Use parameters, as needed. (To view the parameters and help for this command, at a command line, type: wbadmin start recovery /?).

   For example, to run a recovery of the backup from March 1, 2005, taken at 9:00 A.M. of the d:\folder and its sub-folders, type: wbadmin start recovery -version:03/1/2005-09:00 -itemType:File -items:d:\folder -recursive.

3. Review the items that you recovered to make sure that they were recovered as you expected.

Related Management Information

Backup Set Integrity

File Services