I'm sure you've figured this out on your own, but just in case, you're right... AD is part of the system state and even if you CAN back up NTDS.DIT 'separately' as a file, you shouldn't. You need the system state to do any kind of restore operation in Dir Svcs Restore Mode.
So b/c you can't do anything with it, so you're wasting time, tape, and who knows what else. Don't get too caught up in why you can or can't see it or can or can't (de)select it... Instead (something COOL and not publicized enough) -- test your DC restore process on a 2K3 SP1 machine and check out the LDIF file that Auth Restore creates for you to help make restoring group memberships MUCH easier!!!! COOL! <grin and off the subject, but cool...> Dan Holme Intelliem List info : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx List archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%40mail.activedir.org/
