6 Common Backup and Restore Mistakes

Nothing compares with the sinking feeling you experience when you need to restore data from a backup but can't for some reason. Most computer users have this experience eventually; the pain is even more acute and frequent for administrators, who are responsible for large amounts of important business data. Although backup and restore technologies have advanced in the past few years, you probably still use them only as last-ditch safety mechanisms. When all else fails, you try to restore from backup. For this alternative to be viable, you must have a degree of confidence that your data will be available and readable when you need it. However, Exchange administrators make several common mistakes that prevent their backup and recovery operations from running smoothly.

#1: Using the Wrong Backup Method
The two basic methods for backing up Exchange data are online and offline. Online backups use a Microsoft interface (such as Extensible Storage Engine—ESE, backup APIs, or Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service—VSS) to copy the selected Exchange data while the Exchange services are running and while the target database is mounted and active. The Exchange-provided APIs back up transaction logs and truncate the logs when necessary. . . .