# innobackupex --copy-back does not copy-back

**URL:** <https://forums.percona.com/t/innobackupex-copy-back-does-not-copy-back/2271>\
**Category:** Percona XtraBackup\
**Created:** [July 29, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://forums.percona.com/t/innobackupex-copy-back-does-not-copy-back/2271 "2012-07-29T18:08:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![gilmcgrath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/278dde/32.png) [@gilmcgrath](https://forums.percona.com/u/gilmcgrath)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://forums.percona.com/t/innobackupex-copy-back-does-not-copy-back/2271/1 "2012-07-29T18:08:11Z")

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After a successful backup and apply-log I tried --copy-back.

But I get the following text in the output before it errors out.

“Original InnoDB data directory is not empty! at /opt/mysql/backup/bin/innobackupex line 571.”

I emptied the datadir and it returned the same error.

I tried it two times:

- one with --defaults-file set
- one run without --defaults-file set

I get the same result.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gilmcgrath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/278dde/32.png) [@gilmcgrath](https://forums.percona.com/u/gilmcgrath)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 10:40pm UTC](https://forums.percona.com/t/innobackupex-copy-back-does-not-copy-back/2271/2 "2012-07-29T22:40:13Z")

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A bit more information:

I have basedir for the database on a NFS mount mount point (e.g. /nfsvol1/mysql/data) - this is where schema, log files,etc exist…

I have innodb ibdata files spread across 3 NFS mount points(e.g. /nfsvol2/mysql/data, /nfsvol3/mysql/data and /nfsvol4/mysql/data)

This is a total of 4 NFS mount points (I do this to optimize throughput to/from NFS). Spreading data across multiple point points is also recommended in netapps "best practices white papers:

Because of this I have: innodb\_home\_dir = /  
and  
I have innodb\_data\_file\_path = nfsvol2/mysql/data/ibdata1:10G;fsvol3/mysql/data/ibdata2:10 GB;fsvol4/mysql/data/ibdata3:10G…

So the question is: Is it possible that I am getting this error because innodb\_home\_dir = / - certainly this is not empty, nor can it me.

Please advise - I really want to use innobackupex and I need to get copy-back working.

If this is the issue (not sure): I guess I could have absolute path names for the data files in innodb\_data\_file\_path but the question is can I set innodb\_home\_dir to some directory that is empty?

Any help would be appreciated