Joe, It is doubtful that you will have any problems with restore; the reason why most of these files are excluded is that they are held exclusively and you will not be able to backup the files in the first place. Exceptions to this are things like the temporary internet files which are excluded because they are somebody's temporary work area and are not needed - these are innocuous also and it will not hurt if they are restored.
Newer versions of the TSM b-a client (4.2.2, 5.1.0) automatically exclude most of these files, so they are no longer needed in dsm.opt (we're trying to make sure any of the recommended exclude lists that are documented reflect this). Try to issue a Q INCLEXCL from the command-line client and you will see several exclude statements which have a Source File of Operating System. We get these values from the registry key: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\FilesNotToBackup Microsoft uses this key to communicate exclude lists to backup products. Thanks, Jim Smith TSM client development I found the section in the manual that covers the recommended Windows system files to exclude (see below). I changed the dsm.opt files to reflect this list. My question is: If I attempt a full restore will these files that got backed up (prior to me excluding them) restore and risk corrupting windows as the manual suggests? If so, how do I address this? exclude "*:\microsoft uam volume\*" exclude "*:\microsoft uam volume\...\*" exclude "*:\...\ea data. sf" exclude "*:\...\pagefile.sys" exclude "*:\...\ibmbio.com" exclude "*:\ibmdos.com" exclude "*:\msdos.sys" exclude "*:io.sys" exclude.dir *:\recycled exclude.dir *:\recycler exclude.dir *:\...\system32\wins exclude.dir *:\...\system32\LServer exclude.dir *:\...\system32\dhcp exclude.dir *:\...\system32\config exclude.dir "*:\system volume information" exclude *:\...\system32\perflib*.dat exclude.dir "*:\...\temporary internet files" exclude "*:\documents and settings\...\ntuser.dat.LOG" exclude "*:\documents and settings\...\ntuser.dat" exclude "*:\documents and settings\...\usrclass.dat.LOG" exclude "*:\documents and settings\...\usrclass.dat" Thanks in advance - Joe McAllister Grundfos Pumps Corp.