How to: Convert A Seed Drive to Archive (4040611)

In some cases, you may need to convert a seed drive into an archive. This could be for various purposes, such as restoring data, verifying integrity using the Archive Check procedure, or other reasons.

If the seed drive is not recognized as an archive, you may encounter the following error:

Error: Archive not found

You can manually convert a seed drive into an archive by following these steps:

1. Locate the metadata file

   • Browse the seed drive folders and locate the file metadata.xml.

2. Modify the metadata file

   • Open metadata.xml with Notepad or any text editor.
   • Find the following line:
     <isSeedDrive>true</isSeedDrive>
   • Change the value from true to false, ensuring that it is in lowercase letters:
     <isSeedDrive>false</isSeedDrive>
   • Save the file after making the change.

   ⚠ Important: If the value is not in lowercase (e.g., False instead of false), you may encounter the following error message:

   The string 'False' is not a valid Boolean value. Content cannot be converted to the type Boolean. There was an error deserializing the object of type Replay.Core.Contracts.Backup.BackupManifest. Content cannot be converted to the type Boolean.

3. Attach the modified seed drive

   • Once modified, the seed drive can now be opened, attached, and checked as an archive.

4. Revert changes after use (if needed)

   • After completing the necessary actions, you can change the value back to true so the seed drive can still be used for seeding on a target Core.

Limitations

• It is not possible to convert an existing archive into a seed drive.
  • The seed creation process involves specific flags on both the source and target Cores that allow bypassing the standard replication process.
  • Simply modifying the metadata.xml file will not enable a standard archive to function as a seed drive.