If an unmovable data set is not preallocated, DFSMSdss tries to allocate the data set on the same 'relative tracks from which it was dumped. If this allocation fails, the unmovable data sets are allocated to any available location if the FORCE keyword is specified.

When you specify the FORCE keyword and some of the data sets have truly location-dependent data, you should specify their names in the EXCLUDE parameter to prevent DFSMSdss from restoring them. Subsequently, you must either restore the data set onto a scratch volume or free up the area of the DASD where these data sets were located on the source volume and rerun the restore operation. When restoring a direct, undefined data set and the target data set is not preallocated, DFSMSdss allocates the data set. The allocation may result in a new data set with a different configuration from the data set that was dumped (for example, fewer volumes). This situation may cause problems when processing the restored data set.