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MSSQL 2008 Error 3241: RESTORE HEADERONLY is terminating abnormally

Posted August 10th, 2009 by Matt Shadbolt

While trying to restore a MSSQL 2008 .BAK file to a staging server, I received the following error:

The media family on device ‘C:\database_backup.bak’ is incorrectly formed. SQL Server cannot process this media family.

RESTORE HEADERONLY is terminating abnormally. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 3241)

This is actually an easy error to fix! The problem is due to the service pack level of the server you are trying to restore to. If you backup the database on a SQL 08 server with SP1 applied, you need to make sure the destination server is at SP1 level too.

Posted by Matt Shadbolt
http://mattlog.net
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