Know How To Resolve SQL Server Error 3271?

When a user is backing up a database or restoration procedure is in process, most of the SQL users faces an error i.e. SQL error 3271. This a type of error encounters when a system is performing an I/O operation.

The main reason behind this error message is related to I/O operation that displays a message of nonrecoverable I/O error. Therefore, in this article, we have discussed the all the major causes of occurrence of this error and what all are the possible solution to fix this error.

Causes of Microsoft SQL Server Error 3271

There are various major causes that are responsible for this error. Therefore, in this section, all the major reasons of occurrence of this error are discussed:

• Lack of Storage Space

The error occurs mainly because of unavailability of space in the storage media. Therefore, it is impossible to fit backup created on the disk. This error message also has some additional text that determines the storage device memory is full, which leads to this I/O error like:

“A nonrecoverable I/O error occurred on file ‘%ab:’ %ab”

• VSS Writer of SQL Server

The another major reason of the error is an issue with VSS. Volume Shadow Copy Snapshot (VSS) is a replica that is backed up via Window server. Therefore, it can also be possible that an error encountered due to any of the VSS writer that results in failure of the backup operation and further leads to entire backup process failure. Moreover, any error any problem, which is created by VSS writer results an SQL server error 3271.

• SQL Database Corruption

One of the reasons that cause the error is corruption in the SQL database for which user was trying to create a backup. If the user tries to backup the corrupted SQL database then it is more likely to be possible that an I/O error occurs that further leads to error 3271.

A user must run a check through the SQL error logs to determine the exact reason of the error. After identifying the exact reason, a correct measure or solution can be used to fix the error message and prevent the SQL database from this error in future.

How To Fix SQL Server Error 3271?

If the reason of the error message is one of the above mentioned, then a user must follow the measures discussed below:

• Increase Space On Disk
1. If the reason of the error is a lack of storage space, then first, a user needs to check the amount of storage space available on the disk on which backup needs to be created.
2. If there is no space available, first a user needs to free up some space on the storage disk or can use some external storage to save the created backup.
• Resolve VSS Writer Issue
1. If the reason of Microsoft SQL error 3271 is VSS writer then, a user must review the instances by running the SQL instance check because the error is due to problematic SQL instance that prevents from taking a snapshot of the database.
2. After identifying the instance, a user needs to stop that instance and run the backup process without that instance.
3. If the backup process is completed successfully then it is clear that this particular instance is responsible the error. A user can again check SQL error log to determines the reason behind the inappropriate functionality of that particular instance.
4. If the user is not able to identify the instance that causing problem on a server, then one needs to stop all the instances on the server to run the backup process.

Note: When you stop all the available instances then, always keep in mind SQL VSS writer is not in use while taking backup.

With the help of these above mentioned manual procedures, a user is able to avoid and fix the error and run the backup process successfully.

Conclusion

While taking backup of SQL database, a user faces an I/O error generally known as Microsoft SQL Server error 3271. Therefore, all the causes of this error need to determined first, then depending upon the cause of error a respective measure should be taken to resolve it. Hence, in this post manual solutions to resolve these issues are discussed with respect to the cause of the error that a user can use to overcome this issue. However, if the error message occurs while restoring backup then there may be possibility of backup file corruption. In such situation you can take the help of third party SQL backup recovery tool to repair corrupt SQL backup file and fix the error message.