Missing Catalog Files May Cause BKF Corruption

Microsoft Windows NT based operating systems possess NTBackup tool. It allows you to create concurrent backup by running more than one backup instance. This process is helpful if your system's performance is degrading and you do not have much time to run separate backup processes. But sometimes the Microsoft Backup File (BKF file) created using NTBackup can not be used to restore data. The reasons behind such behavior may be BKF file corruption and you need to opt for BKF Recovery solutions to sort it out.

When you see the BKF files, which are created using concurrent execution of several backup processes, you will discover that the catalog files are missing from the Restore tab under the NTBackup utility. Catalog files of BKF file allow the NTBackup utility to restore your critical data from the BKF file.

Although, all the backup operations complete successfully without showing any error message while backing up the data, but when you try to restore the data, you might encounter an error message related to unrecognizable and unusable file. Some of these error messages can be as given below:

 The backup file contains unrecognized data and cannot be used
 The backup file is unusable. You must erase it, or choose another file
 An inconsistency was encountered on the requested media

At this point of time, you can't re-create missing catalog files while other BKF files, which were created concurrently, already exist under the Restore tab of the NTBackup tool. Thus, you can't restore the data from BKF file stored on your backup media.

Root of this problem

NTBackup tool creates catalog files for every BKF file and of every backup operation which is completed. These files are stored in the following folder on your Windows computer:

%SystemRoot%Documents and SettingsAccountLocal SettingsApplication DataMicrosoftWindows NTNTBackupcatalogs

The Catalog files are shown under the Restore tab of NTBackup utility, so that you can select the part of backup file that you want to restore.
When you create more than one backup at a time, the catalog files share identical timestamp attribute. In this case, the backup set that was attributed first, emerges under the Restore tab. Other backups started concurrently do not appear under the Restore tab and you can't add them manually.

This process corrupts BKF file and bkf repair becomes necessary to achieve precise recovery. This is best possible using powerful and advanced third party BKF Recovery software.

Stellar Phoenix BKF Recovery software can effectively repair bkf file created using NTBackup tool. The software is compatible with BKF files created with Windows XP, 2003 and 2000. It supports Microsoft Windows Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000. It is also compatible with BKF files created using Backup Exec tool by VERITAS software.