>...the users came back screaming that she had restored the wrong information!

But what is the actual basis of their claim of "wrong"?  If all the files are
back, then that's all that matters.  The timestamps on directories is not
important because directories are not data: they are just tables to point to
files, and are reconstructed and updated as needed.

>Technically, ADSM/TSM IS backing up the files and directories each night,

I get the sense that you are assuming that rather than having seen it in
the client backup logs.  For ordinary directories, *SM does not back them
up on every ordinary incremental backup: it backs them up only once, and
for ordinary directories it simply means recording in the *SM database that
the object is a directory and Whatever is its name.  Again, this is because
a directory is not a data object but rather a reconstructable table.  You
see directories being backed up in ordinary incrementals only if they are
new to the file system, and in Incrbydate every time, because *SM did not
ask the server whether it already existed, and in ordinary file system
activity the directory will have been updated by file system activity since
the last backup.  If you see old timestamps on restored directories, it
could simply reflect their original backup date, way back when.

Again, directory timestamps, like those of symbolic links, are nothing to
be concerned about.  What matters is the data files, and you indicate that
those are as they should be.

   Richard Sims, BU