When you can’t make a backup file or restore a backup file into inFlow On-Premise, there’s usually a problem with the file or the computer you are working with. Please try each of the following solutions to fix the backup or restore process:

• Are you having trouble restoring a backup into inFlow?
  • Try unzipping your backup file
  • Try restoring directly from the server computer
  • Check to see which version of SQL you’re running
  • Does your computer use non-English regional settings?
  • Was the backup made in a newer version of inFlow On-Premise?
  • Error: “SQL Server cannot process this media family”
• Are you having trouble backing up your data?
  • Check that you have enough space to back up your data
  • Try backing up directly from the server computer
  • Be sure to back up to a local drive (external and network drives might fail)
  • Does your computer us non-English Regional settings?
  • Try backing up manually

Are you having trouble restoring a backup into inFlow?

Try unzipping your backup file

inFlow On-Premise backup files that end in .ifz are compressed to save space. Sometimes inFlow On-Premise has trouble unzipping the backup file. Try these steps to manually unzip the file and extract an uncompressed backup file:

1. Make a new copy of your .ifz backup file.
2. Right click the new copy and choose Rename.
3. Change the file extension to .zip instead of .ifz. (e.g: “inFlowBackup.ifz” becomes “inFlowBackup.zip”)
4. Click Yes in the warning window.
5. Right-click on the zip file and click Extract all.
6. Choose a location to save the extracted files.
7. Check the location you saved the files for a file called inFlow.ifi.
8. Go back into inFlow On-Premise and attempt to restore from the new inFlow.ifi file.

Try restoring directly from the server computer

If you’re using inFlow on multiple computers, please try doing the restore from the server computer. Sometimes, particularly for large databases, the restore will fail when going across a network. If you’re not sure which one is your server computer, check by going to the Main Menu > Options > Connection Settings. It will show the name of the computer you are connected to (which would be the server).

Check which version of SQL you’re running

If you’re having trouble transferring your database from one computer to another, please try checking which versions of SQL they are both running. Sometimes, if the two computers are running different versions of SQL the new computer won’t be able to read the old data. Try following these steps here to find out what version you’re on.

Does your computer use non-English regional settings?

It’s possible that you are being affected by a Windows issue that occurs on computers that use non-English regional settings.  This is particularly likely if you use more than one language on the computer.

To fix this issue you can take these steps:

1. Open your Start menu and type Control Panel. Click on the Control Panel desktop app.
2. Click on Region.
3. Click on Change Date, Time, or Number formats.
4. Click on the Administrative tab.
5. Under Welcome screen and new user accounts, click Copy Settings.
6. Check the boxes for Welcome screen and system accounts and New user accounts at the bottom of this window, then hit OK.
7. Try backing up or restoring again.

Was the backup made in a newer version of inFlow On-Premise?

inFlow On-Premise backup files can’t be restored into an older version of inFlow than they were made in.  As an example: a v3.5.2 backup file cannot be restored into v3.5.1. If you get an error message that says the backup file was made using a newer version of inFlow, then you’ll need to make sure you’re restoring into a compatible version of inFlow first.

If you’re not sure what version the backup file is from, the file name usually contains the version number (e.g. v352), or you can go to the computer you created the backup from and check inFlow’s Main Menu > Options > About inFlow for the version number.

Click here to see which version of inFlow you’re eligible to use. You’ll only be able to use backup files from this version or any older version of inFlow.

If the version number on your backup is newer than your eligible version, then you’ll have to either upgrade to a newer version of inFlow by downloading the newer version of inFlow from the Manage portal or use a different backup file that’s compatible with your eligible version.  You can check this article for instructions on how to check for automatically created backups, which are made daily by default.

Error: “media family on device is incorrectly formed. SQL server cannot process this media family.”

This message means you’ve restored a backup from a computer that has a newer version of SQL Server (this is how we store your data through inFlow). Click here to see the full instructions for how to fix this.

Are you having trouble backing up your data?

Check that you have enough space to back up your data

If you try to back up your data to a specific drive, make sure you have enough space to create the backup file. For example: if your database is 1GB and you’re trying to save it into your C:\ drive, the C:\ drive must have space to accommodate that 1GB file. To check how much space is available on the C:\ drive, open a File Explorer window, click on This PC, then look at the C:\ drive to see how much space is listed as free.

Try backing up directly from the server computer

If you’re using inFlow on multiple computers, please try doing the backup from the server computer. Sometimes, particularly for large databases, the backup will fail when going across a network. If you’re not sure which one is your server computer, check by going to the Main Menu > Options > Connection Settings. It will show the name of the computer you are connected to (which would be the server).

Be sure to back up to a local drive (external and network drives might fail)

If you have a USB stick or an external drive that you want to back up to you’ll need to first back up to your computer’s desktop and then MOVE the file to the USB stick or drive once it’s saved. Unfortunately most of these types of drives aren’t fast enough to write directly to so inFlow has to save it locally first.

Does your computer use non-English regional settings?

It’s possible that you are being affected by a Windows issue that occurs on computers that use non-English regional settings.  This is particularly likely if you use more than one language on the computer.

To fix this issue you can take these steps:

1. Open your Start menu and type Control Panel. Click on the Control Panel desktop app.
2. Click on Region.
3. Click on Change Date, Time, or Number formats.
4. Click on the Administrative tab.
5. Under Welcome screen and new user accounts, click Copy Settings.
6. Check the boxes for Welcome screen and system accounts and New user accounts at the bottom of this window, then hit OK.
7. Try backing up or restoring again.

Try backing up manually

If none of the above steps worked, you can try making a backup file from the database files manually.

1. Click Start, type in “inFlow Utilities” without the quotes.
2. Click Perform a database query.
3. Copy the following lines and paste them into the database query box. Then click Execute.
   

   BACKUP DATABASE inFlow TO DISK = N'C:\inFlow_backup.ifi' WITH FORMAT
   GO

4. Check your C:\ drive to see that the backup is there.

If you do not see the “inFlow Utilities” option or the “Perform a Database Query” option, you may be on an older version of inFlow, or you may not be on the server computer. You can check your version number by going to Main Menu > Options > About inFlow in the inFlow program.