Open Software Solutions

Source: Microsoft Support

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After using stsadm -o restore with the -overwrite parameter and getting an error you notice a site one level up from the site you were trying to restore is deleted.  The root level site http://servername is deleted.

    ERROR:
    No content databases are available for this operation. Create a content database , and then try the operation again. To create a content database, click Content databases on the Application Management page, select the Web application to use, and then click Add a content database.

Going to the now dead root site you get: 
    404 FILE NOT FOUND

This can happen if you pass an improper URL path with stsadm -o restore.

EXAMPLE:
Correct – stsadm -o restore -url http://SERVERNAME/sites/sitename -filename DRIVE: file.bak -overwrite
Incorrect – stsadm -o restore -url http://SERVERNAME/site/sitename -filename DRIVE: file.bak -overwrite

NOTE Missing ‘s’ in the word ‘sites’ along URL path.

When we pass the -overwrite parameter with stsadm it deletes the destination site and then tries to accomplish the restore.  If the URL path is incorrect then the deletion and restore is attempted against the only valid path which is the root site of the URL.  The restore fails with an error but the site has already been deleted due to -overwrite which is expecting a site to be restored.

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