Knowledge Base

SQL error 3241 when restoring database

Category: Troubleshooting & error messages
Date: 16 May 2011
Product: SQL Backup
You receive this error message (in the SQL Backup log file) during a restore operation:



SQL Server error
SQL error 3013: SQL error 3013: RESTORE FILELIST is terminating abnormally.
SQL error 3241: SQL error 3241: The media family on device 'SQLBACKUP_A4406472-3E3F-48I2-B3I2-AEB5B5725C34' is incorrectly formed.



This can happen for one of several reasons - most commonly it is due to a mismatch of SQL server versions between the backup and restore (you can't generally restore to a lower version that the backup was created with- whereas backwards compatibility is usually good).

Here's a link describing database versions and database compatibility levels.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlserverstorageengine/archive/2007/04/26/what-s-the-difference-between-database-version-and-database-compatibility-level.aspx

However, this error message is also generated as a result of permissions problems - especially if the restore is happening across a network.

Check the SQL server versions for the source and target SQL servers and ensure the target is at least as late as the source.

If so, then suspect permissions issues- especially if you are restoring over a network, if you copy the file so that is local to the target SQL server and it restores well then this proves the case. If you wish for this to work over the network - ensure that the account that the SQL backup agent is running as (Local System by default) has, at least, read permissions to the directory in which the backup database files reside.