SQL Server error 3241 - The media family on device ... is incorrectly formed
Published 13 February 2013
When restoring a database, the following error may occur:
SQL error 3013: RESTORE FILELIST is terminating abnormally.
SQL error 3241: The media family on device <device name> is incorrectly formed.
There are two possible causes for this error:
- This error arises if you attempt to restore a database from a backup created on a later version of SQL Server to an earlier version of SQL Server. You can only restore to the same or a later version of SQL Server. This is a SQL Server limitation.
- This error may also arise if the SQL Backup Agent service doesn't have the necessary permissions. For example, if you are restoring across a network, the SQL Backup Agent service must have read permission to access the folder containing the backups. For more information on the permissions required by the SQL Backup Agent service, see Permissions.