[Lvlug] Need to Restore some MS Backup Files on Tape to Linux --- if Possible

[heath petty]

Have you tried using dd? I did some searching around to see if it was
possible, and some people have had success. You could create an image
of the tape, then try to extract the files using software in windows.
I saw a few virtual tape drive utilities for windows that may or may
not work for you. If nothing else you may be able pull apart the image
and manually extract the files.

Also, it seems like you can pass a tape drive to a qemu guest with KVM
(see: http://www.linux-kvm.com/content/kvm-76-released-performance-improvments-qemu-merge-kernel-support-device-assignment).
I don't have a tape drive or I would test this on my Fedora 11 system.

Hopefully these suggestions will get you further along.

-Heath

On Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 9:49 PM, Terry Cox <zencode at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I have some client data that was backed up on a Windows host using MS Backup
> a couple of years ago.  (Of course, they need their data yesterday.)  I have
> a SCSI controller and DDS-4 Tape Drive in my Test server, which is a dual
> boot Linux/Windows Server.  The problem is that I don't want to take down my
> Linux box to 'recover' these files under Windows, since I use it for a Test
> environment for some of my clients --- unless I have no choice.  (The
> restore process is very, very slow --- but it works.)
>
> I have played around with MT and Tar on Linux, trying to read the data ---
> to no avail...   I am researching Bacula and Amanda as possible candidates
> for this job, but I don't want to go down that road unless I know it is
> going to work in this particular instance.
>
> I tried using VirtualBox virtualization, but my Windows XP session under
> Linux did not recognize the SCSI controller and tape drive.  So, I want to
> know if there is an easy way to 'recover' theses MS Backup files under
> Linux.  My Google searches to date have not answered that question
> directly.  My current OS is Centos 5.4.  (By the way, Centos recognizes the
> controller and tape drive without any problems.  I can reposition the tape,
> and I can backup and restore Linux files using tar, etc.  I just can't read
> the MS Backup files that I know that are there...)
>
> Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks!
>
> Terry
>
>
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