FIX: Backup or Restore Using Large Transaction Logs May Return Error 3241 (297104)

SYMPTOMS

When you perform a backup or restore operation and the transaction log is greater than four gigabytes (or 2^32 bytes), the LogMgr::ValidateBackedupBlock method may cause the following error when it computes the offset of the log block in the physical file:

Error 3241 Severity 16 State 1
The media family on device '%ls' is incorrectly formed. SQL Server cannot process this media family.

CAUSE

LogMgr::ValidateBackedupBlock computes the log sequence number (LSN) block ID in 4-byte arithmetic (rather than 8-byte) which causes a DWORD overflow.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for SQL Server 2000. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

290211 INF: How to Obtain the Latest SQL Server 2000 Service Pack

WORKAROUND

When you back up and restore your database with trace flag 3111, LogMgr::ValidateBackedupBlock will be skipped. You can set this flag in the following ways:

Use the DBCC TRACEON command:
```
DBCC TRACEON (3111)
					
```
Change the SQL Server startup parameter from SQL Enterprise Manager (SEM). Under the server properties, click Startup Parameters, type -T3111, and then click Add.
Start SQL Server and set the trace flag from a command prompt:

sqlservr -d"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL\Data\master.mdf" -T3111

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in SQL Server 2000. This problem was first corrected in SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 1.