Problems with a Damaged Removable Storage Manager Database (235032)

RESOLUTION

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
The RSM database is located in the %SystemRoot%\System32\NtmsData folder. Whenever you use Windows 2000 Backup to back up your %SystemRoot% folder, Backup automatically backs up the RSM database to two locations, the backup media itself, and the %SystemRoot%\System32\NtmsData\Export folder. Normally, you could use Windows 2000 Backup to restore the Ntmsdata folder, but this advanced restore option does not work if the Removable Storage database is damaged.

To resolve this issue:

1. Perform the steps listed in the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base, test to determine if the issue is resolved, and if not, continue with the remaining steps:

   228987 Event ID 129 for Removable Storage Manager After Reboot

2. Manually restore your Removable Storage database:
   
   NOTE: If you have never performed a %SystemRoot% backup using Windows 2000 backup, the %SystemRoot%\System32\NtmsData\Export folder does not exist. If this is the case, only perform steps 3-5, and then restart RSM or your computer. After RSM starts, it creates a new database that should permit your alternate backup program to use RSM and perform a restoration of the good database.
3. In the Computer Management tool, double-click the Services and Applications branch to expand it, and then click Services.
4. Locate and stop the "Removable Storage" service, or change the startup type from "Automatic" to "Disabled", and then restart your computer.
5. Use Windows Explorer to view the %SystemRoot%\System32\NtmsData folder, and rename the existing files in this folder to a .old file extension, or copy them to a different folder.
6. Use Registry Editor to view the following registry key:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\NTMS

   If the ImportDatabase REG_DWORD exists, change the value of the ImportDatabase REG_DWORD from 0 to 0x1. If it does not exist, add it with a value of 0x1:
   
   value name: ImportDatabase
   data type: REG_DWORD
   String: 1
7. In the Computer Management tool, double-click the Services and Applications branch to expand it, and then click Services.
8. Locate the Removable Storage service, try to start the service, or change the startup type from "Disabled" to "Automatic", and then restart your computer. This should import the database from the export folder, build a new index file, and be consistent from when the last %Systemroot% backup was performed.
   
   NOTE: Remote Storage Server (RSS) also automatically backs-up the Ntmsdata folder as part of a File Migration session. You could take this media to another computer and use Windows 2000 Backup to restore the RSM database files. You can then copy them to the %SystemRoot%\System32\NtmsData\Export folder of the original computer, and then follow the procedures listed earlier in this article.