Question : Testing an Exchange 2003 restore and BackupExec 11d

We want to test our Exchange backups in a VMWARE lab.   We have nightly backup of Exchange 2003 using BackupExec 11 d.  We want to dump these files to a USB drive and then restore in the lab but cant make out how best to redirect.  Can someone advise how I can redirect/restore all the Exchange data to a portable drive as obviously I dont want it redirecting to our production Exchange servers.  We'd then restore to the lab.
We have a DC and a host all ready in the lab and Im going to build an exact copy of the Exchange server and restore to this.  We also have the shadow copy and system state for the Exchange server backed up, whats the best way to restore these?

Or, is there better way to test this, am open to ideas.

Thanks

Answer : Testing an Exchange 2003 restore and BackupExec 11d

You cannot restore Exchange to disk. You can only redirect to another Exchange server.

If you have the Exchange backups on a backup to disk folder, just copy the relevant bkf files from the folder to the USB drive. If the backup is to tape, I suggest you create a Backup to Disk device on the USB drive. Then you create a duplication job to duplicate your Exchange backup from it's current location to the b2d location on the USB drive.
Once you have the bkf files on USB drive, you create a b2d device in BE in the lab as well. You then inventory and catalog the b2d files on a Backup Exec version in the lab. Then you restore.

Or you could redirect directly to the VMWare Exchange server - if you have both Exchange servers running on the same network. But from your description that may not be what you're looking for.

If you just want to make sure the Exchange database backup is valid, you could create a Recovery Storage Group on the production server and restore to the Recovery Storage group. See http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/264815.htm . Then you have no need for the VMWare infrastructure.