Hi all,
We had a support issue recently where a client of ours was using a 3rd party imaging product, and then using the BackupAssist Zip-To-Tape Add-on to transfer those images to Tape.
Unfortunately, there was an incompatibility with this setup.
The 3rd party imaging product implemented its own VSS Provider, which in turn meant that standard calls to VSS from other backup software (such as BackupAssist) failed. It appears that the 3rd party imaging VSS Provider assumes that it is the only backup software installed, and will stop other backup software from working.
Also, BackupAssist incorrectly reported that the backup succeeded. (This is being fixed and will be released in the next version of the software.)
The workaround: If you are using BackupAssist to transfer a backup to tape or other location, you can turn off VSS in the backup job by following the steps below:
- Launch the BackupAssist console
- With the console started select “Edit” from the console’s drop down menu, then click the job name corresponding to the Zip-To-Tape backup job to access the job settings
- From the job settings, select “Open files” from the left-hand tab menu to display the “Open file options” page
- Un-check the tickbox called “Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service” then click “Apply changes” in the bottom, right-hand corner
Please note: we regret the inconvenience, but the incompatibility is caused by the other 3rd party software causing standard Windows VSS functionality to break. Once installed, there’s nothing that BackupAssist (or any other software that uses VSS) can do about it.
Linus
