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Veeam Backup & Replication USB error

  • March 30, 2026
  • 2 comments
  • 20 views
J
  • JC-29
  • Not a newbie anymore

Hi, 

I tried using Veeam Agent for Windows on my 2025 Server to backup a D drive.  The backup destination was a couple of USB disks which I registered with VAW and I wanted to use the disks on rotation.  That backup job failed with some problem about VAW insisting on using the same USB disk each time, plus my colleague convinced me to use the community version of Veeam Backup & Replication, so I started again.

 

I’ve installed VBR, created a repository using one of the USB disks and did my first backup.  All ok.  Then I re-ran the job 5 mins later with the same USB disk still plugged in, so no disk change/no rotation, as I wanted to see if it created the VIB file.  Nope!  I got this:

 

Processing New Backup_Job_1 Error: Update of the storage [E:\Backups\SRV02\New SRV02.c5c62b19-d1f0-4e8e-864d-3da8e38f3D2026-03-30T222815_7C96.vib] is not supported. Storage version: [0]. Failed to open storage for read/write access. Storage: [E:\Backups\SRV02\New SRV02.c5c62b19-d1f0-4e8e-864d-3da8e38f3D2026-03-30T222815_7C96.vib]. 

 

The USB drive is 4TB and formatted with NTFS.  I couldn’t use REFS as the server wouldn’t allow it.  Out of interest, I now have an old 2TB USB plugged in and I COULD format that as REFS.  So I’m now starting another fresh backup job to a new repository containing the 2TB USB.  It’s in progress now and I’ll do the same experiment with that one, i.e. try another backup and see if I can get a chain going.

In the meantime, can anyone shed some light on the error I got above???

Thanks for reading.  And sorry for being a donkey.

    2 comments

    Chris.Childerhose
    Forum|alt.badge.img+21

    Did you exclude the USB drive from AV?  Seems there was some interruption during backup causing the error.

    Chris Childerhose (Enterprise Architect) - VMCA | VMCE | VMCE-SP | Veeam Vanguard 8* | Veeam Legend 5* | VUG Canada Leader | vExpert 7* | Toronto VMUG Leader | VCAP-DCV/VCP-DCV | Object First Ace | Cisco Champion | Twitter: @cchilderhose | Blog Site – https://just-virtualization.tech
    Chris.Childerhose
    Forum|alt.badge.img+21

    From Claude AI -

    Veeam VIB Storage Version [0] Error
    This is a corrupted/incomplete VIB file — "Storage version: [0]" means the file header was never properly written. This almost always happens when a previous backup session was interrupted mid-write (power loss, network drop, job killed, etc.), leaving a zero-byte or malformed stub file on disk.
    What's Happening
    Veeam is trying to use this .vib as the base for an incremental, but the file is unreadable because it has no valid internal structure. Version [0] = the file metadata was never initialized.
    Resolution Steps
    1. Delete the corrupt VIB file
    On the repository host, delete the offending file:
    E:\Backups\SRV02\New SRV02.c5c62b19-d1f0-4e8e-864d-3da8e38f3D2026-03-30T222815_7C96.vib
    2. Rescan the repository
    In the VBR console:
    Backup Infrastructure → Repositories → Right-click repo → Rescan
    This forces Veeam to re-read the backup metadata on disk.
    3. Run a Backup Repair or Active Full
    After rescan, right-click the job and:
    Active Full — safest option; creates a fresh full and rebuilds the chain cleanly
    Or check if VBR auto-suggests a Repair option after detecting the broken chain
    Root Cause to Investigate
    Check what happened around 2026-03-30T22:28:15 (the file timestamp embedded in the name):
    Was the job cancelled or timed out?
    Any storage connectivity issues on E:\?
    Repository host rebooted or lost power?
    Antivirus scanning/locking files in E:\Backups\SRV02\?
    AV exclusions on the repository path are a very common culprit for mid-write interruptions if not already configured.

    Chris Childerhose (Enterprise Architect) - VMCA | VMCE | VMCE-SP | Veeam Vanguard 8* | Veeam Legend 5* | VUG Canada Leader | vExpert 7* | Toronto VMUG Leader | VCAP-DCV/VCP-DCV | Object First Ace | Cisco Champion | Twitter: @cchilderhose | Blog Site – https://just-virtualization.tech
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