Error: "Media family on device is incorrectly formed. SQL Server cannot process this media family." - Support

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

Please note: we will sunset inFlow On-Premise on July 31, 2024. After sunset we will stop selling or activating new licenses for inFlow On-Premise and stop providing support (including online KB articles).

In the meantime we will still provide technical support to customers with an active Support Plan.

If you’re seeing this error while attempting to restore an inFlow On-Premise backup file, it’s possible that the backup file is a newer SQL version than your program can handle. See here for how to check your SQL version.

Sometimes this error could also mean that your backup file is corrupt. This is most likely the case if:

– you’ve checked the SQL version and determined them to be the same on both computers

– you’ve reinstalled inFlow with the latest SQL version and it still won’t restore the backup

– you are restoring from an auto-backup file / backup file on the same computer without any previous reinstallations

Unfortunately with a corrupt backup file there is not much you can do except try to locate another working backup. Please see the steps here for what to do if your database is corrupt.