• hi,
    I would like to give you an update about the restore tests. I restored the smallest one,7TB with 4600 files.
    It took a lot less time. the high number of files definitely impacts on the timing.

    2017-03-28 09:45:45.210    spid58    RestoreDatabase: Finished
    2017-03-28 09:45:45.180    Backup    RESTORE DATABASE successfully processed 62086684 pages in 3003.526 seconds (161.494 MB/sec).
    2017-03-28 09:45:45.180    spid58    Restore: Done with MSDB maintenance
    2017-03-28 09:44:14.340    spid58    Writing backup history records
    2017-03-28 09:44:07.600    Backup    Database changes were restored. Database: db_xxxxxx2, creation date(time): 2011/12/19(12:47:05), first LSN: 11396148:9851828:16, last LSN: 11396148:10901616:1, number of dump devices: 1, device information: (FILE=1, TYPE=DISK: {'X:\xxxxxxx.diff'}). This is an informational message. No user action is required.
    2017-03-28 09:44:07.600    spid58    Restore: Writing history records
    2017-03-28 09:44:07.350    spid58    Resuming any halted fulltext crawls
    2017-03-28 09:44:07.090    Backup    Restore is complete on database 'db_xxxxxx2'. The database is now available.
    2017-03-28 09:44:07.090    spid58    Restore: Database is restarted
    2017-03-28 09:44:06.850    spid58    PostRestoreReplicationFixup for db_xxxxxx2 complete
    2017-03-28 09:44:04.660    spid58    PostRestoreReplicationFixup for db_xxxxxx2 starts
    2017-03-28 09:44:04.630    spid58    CHECKDB for database 'db_xxxxxx2' finished without errors on 2017-02-18 08:04:33.693 (local time). This is an informational message only; no user action is required.
    2017-03-28 09:44:04.200    spid58    PostRestoreContainerFixups: fixups complete
    2017-03-28 09:43:50.980    spid58    Recovery completed for database db_xxxxxx2 (database ID 5) in 7 second(s) (analysis 429 ms, redo 1812 ms, undo 4387 ms.) This is an informational message only. No user action is required.
    2017-03-28 09:43:50.820    spid58    Recovery is writing a checkpoint in database 'db_xxxxxx2' (5). This is an informational message only. No user action is required.
    2017-03-28 09:43:45.490    spid58    Zeroing completed on X:\Data\db_xxxxxx2\db_xxxxxx2_log.ldf
    2017-03-28 09:43:45.480    spid58    Zeroing X:\Data\db_xxxxxx2\db_xxxxxx2_log.ldf from page 60514567 to 60515047 (0x736c20e000 to 0x736c5ce000)
    2017-03-28 09:43:22.950    spid58    Starting up database 'db_xxxxxx2'.
    2017-03-28 09:43:19.540    spid58    Restore: Restarting database for ONLINE
    2017-03-28 09:43:19.480    spid58    Restore: Transitioning database to ONLINE
    2017-03-28 09:43:19.430    spid58    Restore: Done with fixups
    2017-03-28 09:43:18.950    spid58    Rollforward complete on database db_xxxxxx2
    2017-03-28 09:43:08.630    spid58    OfflineRollforward: StopLsn/LastLsn(PruId: 0): 0xade434:0xa65870:0x1
    2017-03-28 09:42:46.480    spid58    RunOfflineRedo logIter.Init(): LastLsn(PruId: 0): 0xade434:0xa65870:0x1
    2017-03-28 09:42:46.480    spid58    RunOfflineRedo logIter.Init(): FirstLsn(PruId: 0): 0xade434:0x9653b4:0x10
    2017-03-28 09:42:46.380    spid58    Restore VLF headers completed on database db_xxxxxx2
    2017-03-28 09:42:45.020    spid58    Restore VLF headers for 209 headers on database db_xxxxxx2
    2017-03-28 09:42:42.240    spid58    Restore-Redo begins on database db_xxxxxx2
    2017-03-28 09:42:42.040    spid58    The database 'db_xxxxxx2' is marked RESTORING and is in a state that does not allow recovery to be run.
    2017-03-28 09:42:28.130    spid58    Starting up database 'db_xxxxxx2'.
    2017-03-28 09:42:25.050    spid58    Restore: Backup set restored
    2017-03-28 09:42:24.130    spid58    Restore: Data transfer complete on db_xxxxxx2
    2017-03-28 09:42:24.130    spid58    FileHandleCache: 0 files opened. CacheSize: 140
    2017-03-28 09:41:45.800    spid58    SetTargetRestoreAge: 0
    2017-03-28 09:41:41.050    spid58    Restore: LogZero complete
    2017-03-28 09:41:41.040    spid58    Zeroing completed on X:\Data\db_xxxxxx2\db_xxxxxx2_log.ldf
    2017-03-28 09:12:06.050    spid58    Restore: Waiting for log zero on db_xxxxxx2
    2017-03-28 09:12:06.050    spid58    Completed MSDA in stream 0, thread 6436
    2017-03-28 08:52:20.310    spid58    Starting MSDA in stream 0, thread 6436, length 0x764bc00000
    2017-03-28 08:52:20.310    spid58    Restore: Transferring data to db_xxxxxx2
    2017-03-28 08:52:20.310    spid58    Restore: Restoring backup set
    2017-03-28 08:52:20.010    spid58    Restore: Containers are ready
    2017-03-28 08:52:19.990    spid58    Zeroing X:\Data\db_xxxxxx2\db_xxxxxx2_log.ldf from page 1 to 91290496 (0x2000 to 0xae1f700000)
    2017-03-28 08:51:29.000    spid58    Restore: PreparingContainers
    2017-03-28 08:51:24.910    spid58    Restore: BeginRestore (offline) on db_xxxxxx2
    2017-03-28 08:51:24.910    spid58    Restore: Planning complete
    2017-03-28 08:51:24.910    spid58    Dismounting FullText catalogs
    2017-03-28 08:51:12.230    spid58    Restore: Planning begins
    2017-03-28 08:51:12.230    spid58    Restore: Backup set is open
    2017-03-28 08:51:12.230    spid58    Restore: Configuration section loaded
    2017-03-28 08:51:11.850    spid58    SetTargetRestoreAge: 0
    2017-03-28 08:51:11.510    spid58    Opening backup set
    2017-03-28 08:51:11.460    spid58    X-locking database: db_xxxxxx2
    2017-03-28 08:51:11.310    spid58    RestoreDatabase: Database db_xxxxxx2
    2017-03-28 08:51:11.310    spid58    DBCC TRACEON 3605, server process ID (SPID) 58. This is an informational message only; no user action is required.
    2017-03-28 08:51:11.310    spid58    DBCC TRACEON 3604, server process ID (SPID) 58. This is an informational message only; no user action is required.
    2017-03-28 08:51:11.310    spid58    DBCC TRACEON 3014, server process ID (SPID) 58. This is an informational message only; no user action is required.
    2017-03-28 08:51:11.310    spid58    DBCC TRACEON 3004, server process ID (SPID) 58. This is an informational message only; no user action is required.
    (this is differential restore log only)

    this confirms what previously said about number of files,
    ty all
    bye bye