Genie Backup Server 8 not restoring SQL files? Failed to restore GBM xdat file.

This problem and solution is likely to affect a tiny minority of people. If however it effects you, there’s a good chance you are up the creek with no paddle, so hopefully this will help…

I was at a clients, who backs up their financial information (held as a encrypted MS SQL 2005 database) each night with Genie Backup Server v8. The backups complete with no problems or error messages. However, after a server failure they were unable to restore the data through Genie Backup Server. When they tried they were met with the following error message: ‘Failed to restore GBM xdat file. Please reinstall application.’

Genie Soft suggested naming the main backup file (named main.gbp by default) to main.zip and re-opening but this didn’t work (not a valid archive error)

They also suggested running the following ‘try the zip repair in this knowledge base article – point 5: http://www.genie-soft.com/asp/Community … px?KBID=31

But that reported no files found.

So… here is how the problem was overcome…

1. After re-loading the server (Windows Server 2003 in this case with MS SQL 2005 standard) with the same server and SQL instance name, create a new blank database with the same name as the database you are trying to restore. e.g. ‘company’

2. Install Genie Backup Server v8 and create a new backup job. Set it to backup the SQL instance you just created and save the file to the desktop. The important thing is to make this backup as similar in everyway to the one you are trying to restore. Therefore ensure the settings you choose for the backup in Genie match the settings of the job you are trying to restore.

3. Perform the backup and return to the main Genie menu.

4. Copy the backup job that you can’t restore to the desktop also. I’d suggest putting the job in a new folder e.g. ‘corrupt_backup’ – the backup job itself will be within it’s own folder named after the name of the backup job e.g. ‘company_backup’. Within this folder is the main.gbp file etc, which is the part we need next…

5. Now copy the data file from the corrupt Genie backup (it’s here: company backup > SQL > servername_instance-name > company.bak.genc) to the exact same location into the ‘fake’ backup file you made, overwriting the file of the same name which is already there.

6. Now do the same thing with the ‘index.gix’ file, which is in the same location as the ‘main.gbp’ file, overwriting the ‘fake’ version of the file.

7. Now, back in Genie, click the Restore option and DON’T browse to the file. Instead, click the job name in the first ‘backup run’ window and then click Next. You’ll be prompted to enter the encyption password next (if you set one). Click the database from the left window, and click ‘Set Restore Settings’. I’d suggest saving it to another location for now and tick the ‘Force Restore’ option, then click OK

8. On the main screen, click Next and then click the ‘Restore Now’ button. It will now start to restore (rather than show the error message). Be aware that the restore takes a while and will report the wrong file size above. For example, in our case, it said 3MB, whilst the actual file was 1.5GB.  Do not quit the process. Until it comes up with a message it will be restoring the date. Be patient, and hopefully your data will be restored.

Tags: Failed to restore GBM xdat file, Genie backup, SQL Backup, SQL restore