How to resolve “The backup file contains unrecognized..” BKF error message

To safeguard your data, Windows provide you with an inbuilt command known as NTBackup, which can be used to backup your data. This tool uses a proprietary BKF file format to back up the files. But, sometimes a BKF file may seem useless as it encounters corruption and cannot be used further to either backup or restore your data. This generally happens due to improper system shutdown, virus infection, power failure, and more. After BKF file corruption, the backed up files can not be used and becomes inaccessible. In such cases, BKF repair becomes necessary to retrieve your data from the corrupted BKF file.

Though, NTBackup may free you from the stress of worrying about your data but, sometimes it may prove futile. For instance – In some cases, when you try to restore your data from the BKF file, the following error message appears:

“The backup file contains unrecognized data and cannot be used”

After this error message, you may not be able to use the backup file, no matter how many times you try to access it.

Cause:

Possible causes for the above mentioned error message are:

  • If the BKF file is backed up on servers, then the problem could be related to mapping, permissions, or ownership.
  • Large size of the BKF file could be a reason for the problem.
  • Other reason could be be corruption of the BKF file, which occurs due to unexpected system shutdown, virus infected files, etc.

Resolution:

After BKF file corruption, you cannot use it to restore your data. At this point, the need of the hour is to find out a proper solution for the above problem. However, in this case, the issue can be resolved by repairing the BKF file. Thus, to repair BKF file, you need to use an effective third-party application known as BKF repair software. These applications perform accurate backup file repair by incorporating highly influential scanning mechanisms. Embedded with intuitive graphical user interface, these tools are user-friendly and self-explanatory and do not require any prior technical understanding.

Invalid Data Stream causing BKF corruption

NTBackup is an in-built utility available in Windows that enables you to backup all your files, folders, etc.  The backed up data can be stored on any external storage medium such as  CD, DVD, Floppy, etc. You can restore the data from this utility after data loss occurs. But, at times some situations arise when this tool comes across an invalid data stream, which becomes the cause of BKF corruption. As a result, you fail to restore the data from this utility. In such situations, it is recommended to use an effective BKF repair software to retrieve your data from the corrupted BKF file.

For instance – Sometimes, while trying to restore the data from a .bkf file using Ntbackup.exe tool, you encounter the following error message:

“Unable to restore”

After this error message, the restoration process gets discarded or terminated. Consequently, the data present in the .bkf file becomes inaccessible resulting in critical data loss scenario.

Cause:

The problem mainly occurs when Ntbackup.exe encounters an invalid or unknown data stream. The unknown data stream may be the result of a third-party .bkf file containing data streams with Stream ID’s, which are unknown for Ntbackup.exe tool. The Ntbackup.exe tool fails to skip the invalid data stream, due to which the restoration process stops and an error message appears.

Resolution:

You can resolve the problem by obtaining the latest service pack for Windows 2000. But, in some cases, the problem does not get resolved even after obtaining the service pack. In such situations, you need to repair BKF completely to retrieve all the information or data from the corrupted BKF file. To do so, a third-party application known as BKF Repair software will enable you to effectively recover your data from the corrupted or damaged BKF file. These applications employ highly sophisticated methods to extract the data from the BKF file. Furnished with interactive graphical user interface, these tools are user-friendly and self-explanatory without any prior technical understanding.

Resolving “There is no information contained in the file.” BKF Error Message

As known to almost all computer users, NTBackup is an inbuilt utility in Windows that can be used to backup your data. It uses a proprietary BKF file format to create a bcakup. But, sometimes, this tool may seem useless if it fails to restore the data from the BKF file. The reason behind this could be corruption of BKF file, which occurs due to improper system shutdown, virus, power failure, etc.  In these situations, the files present in the BKF file cannot be accessed, which further causes severe loss to your work. In such scenarios, it is recommended to use an effective third-party application to repair BKF file.

For instance – Sometimes, When you try to view the BKF file by double clicking on it, the following error message appears:

“There is no information contained in the file.”

After this error message flashes, the BKF file becomes inaccessible and fails to restore using NTBackup tool. Also, you encounter the same error message each time you try to restore the data from the BKF file.

Cause:

  • The error message may also occur when after creating a backup file  you install MS Windows operating system with a different product key. Due to a different product key, the registry settings of the file may change, causing inaccessibility of BKF file.
  • The above mentioned error message appears when the BKF file is corrupt or damaged. Corruption of BKF file may occur due to virus, operating system malfunctioning, missing catalog file, simultaneous execution of Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) during backup creation, etc.

Resolution:

To resolve the issue and to make the BKF file accessible, you need to repair the corrupted or damaged BKF file using a high-quality third-party tool, known as BKF repair tool. This tool Repair BKF File completely by employing highly influential scanning algorithms. Being non-destructive in nature, the application retrieves your data accurately without altering the contents of the file. Such utilities are designed by qualified and proficient experts who furnish these applications with interactive graphical user interface, making them easy to use and understand.

Stellar Phoenix BKF Recovery is an advanced software that completely repairs and restores the corrupted or damaged BKF file in all instances of corruption. The BKF repair tool is supports BKF files created with Windows 2000, XP, and 2003 backup utilities and even repairs files created with Backup Exec     by VERITAS software. The read-only tool is found to be compatible with Windows Vista, XP, 2003, and 2000 operating systems.

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. Catalogfiles 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 backingup 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 Settings\Account\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows NT\NTBackup\catalogs

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 thiscase, 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 Files 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.

Invalid Data Streams May Corrupt BKF File

NTBackup is an in-built backup tool in Microsoft Windows NT based operating systems. It is used to backup all your critical business and personal data. The data backed up by NTBackup tool is stored in the form of Microsoft BacKup File (BKF) file. To restore data from BKF file, you need to use NTBackup tool.

Sometimes when you try to restore data using NTBackup tool, the restoration process may fail and the BKF file can become unusable. This problem occurs due to BKF corruption and you need to opt for BKF Recovery tools to reclaim your vital data.

When you attempt to restore your precious data from the BKF file using NTBackup tool, you might encounter the below mentioned error message:

“Unable to Restore”

With the occurrence of this error message, the NTBackup utility stops working and the restoration process gets terminated. This behavior of NTBackup tool makes the data backup unusable and causes critical data loss. At this point of time, you need to figure out the cause of this issue and Repair BKF File.

Source of this problem
You may encounter this problem when NTBackup utility finds any unknown data stream in the BKF file.

The unknown data stream of BKF file may be caused by third party BKF file that stores the data streams with the Stream IDs, which are not known by the NTBackup tool.

In place of neglecting the invalid data stream and carrying on with the restoration process, NTBackup becomes incapable of restoring the data and displays the above error message.

Invalid data streams might damage the BKF file when you try to restore it again and again. After BKF file corruption, NTBackup utility could not recognize the file and thus the restore process fails.
Resolution
In order to resolve this problem, you need to repair and restore the damaged BKF file. It can easily be performed using third party bkf repair tools. These software are designed to effectively scan the whole BKF file and extract all data from it.

These software incorporate efficient scanning algorithms to completely repair and restore the damaged file to achieve optimum bkf recovery. With interactive and graphical user interface, these software serve the repair purpose in a user-friendly way.

Stellar Phoenix BKF Recovery is the most comprehensive BKF Repair tool to revamp damaged BKF files. It supports BKF files created with Windows XP, 2003 and 2000. This software is compatible with Windows Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000. It can also repairs BKF files created with Backup Exec utility by VERITAS software.

Backup file fails to Restore

NTBackup tool provided in Windows NT based operating systems (Windows Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000) enables you to create a Microsoft Backup File (BKF) for your critical data. You can easily restore your lost data from BKF file in case of any data loss. However, restoring the BKF file on a domain controller might result in an error message. A domain controller is a server that has Active Directory service installed and runs a version of Windows Server 2008, 2003, 2000 or NT Server operating system. The BKF restoration primarily fails due to BKF file corruption. In such situations, you need to repair your corrupted BKF file by using advanced bkf repair tools.

As a practical scenario, when you attempt to restore backup from a BKF file on the domain controller running Windows Server 2003, you encounter the below error message:
“Backup Status
Operation: Backup
Active backup destination: File
Media name: “bkup_file.bkf created MM/DD/YYYY at HH:MM AM|PM”
NTDS has reported a VSS error 0×800423f0…”
The restoration process halts after the above error message appears.

Cause

The restoration in Windows Server 2003 works only when the operating system, the log files and the database either are all on same disk volume or all are on different storage drives. However, the above issue mainly occurs when one volume (Log or DIT) is on the system drive. It results into BKF file corruption and thus the restoration fails.

Resolution

The BKF file could not be restored after the occurrence of the above error message. To resolve the above error and access the data saved in corrupted BKF file, you will need to repair it by using powerful MS Backup Recovery tools. Such MS Backup Recovery utilities use high end scanning algorithms for scanning and repairing corrupted BKF files. These BKF repair tools extract and reinstate all the required information from a corrupted BKF file of any size. Such BKF repair tools serve as easy to understand applications with largely graphical and user-friendly interface. These repair utilities also provide you an alternative to save your repaired BKF files at default or user specified location.

Stellar Phoenix BKF Recovery is the most powerful repair bkf tool. This Microsoft Backup File Repair supports BKF files created with Windows XP, 2003 and 2000 NTBackup utilities. It is compatible with Windows Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000. It also repairs and restores BKF files created with Backup Exec utility by VERITAS software.