Finding back the right object, containing the needed data for a restore can sometimes be confusing. This is when multiple backup specifications for the same object exist.

In the picture above, 7 different objects are seen, all for the same C: volume on the same client. From DP's perspective, these are 7 different objects because they all have a different "description". This description can be set in the backup specification, typically by pulling up the object properties in the last window before saving the specification or in the objects summary tab afterwards.

It is good practise to set a meaningfull description that can easyly be recognized in the restore context. For instance when a specific sub-tree of the volume is backed up, this folder name can be used as a description.

A side note about object definition in DP and the relation with incrementals and volume license calculation. When existing objects are updated with a new description, it is technically a new object in the IDB (Internal DataBase). For an incremental backup, this means no full backup of this (new) object exists yet and the incremental session will be turned into a full automatically. Also for the volume license size calculation, the modification of the object description will have a temporary effect. That is if there are still protected objects for the old description and now new protected objects for the new description are added, both will be added to the total size separatedly. That's again because technically there are 2 different obejcts now. As long as the original objects are not permanently protected, this increased size calculation will be temporary, either until the original object expires or just for a period of 90 days, which is the maximum for volume license size calculation.

You may be interested to some of my other Support Tips too: Support Tips listed per category.