Forum Discussion

Anishk's avatar
Anishk
Level 3
11 years ago

The operation failed to acquire the minimum number of drives and media needed

Hi,

       I have inserted a new tape cartridge for taking backup which need to be retained forever.
So I created a new Media set with Infinite - Dont allow overwrite(Overwrite protection period) and Infinite Allow append(Append period).
I assigned the media to this and when I started the backup it said

"The job failed with the following error: The operation failed to acquire the minimum number of drives and media needed"

OS- Windows Server 2008 Standard
BE - Backup Exec 2014
Tape - IBM ULT3580
The data is present in the LUN and is accessible by regular backups and running fine. Only this new job fails.

Steps tried
Restarted BE services,scratched the media and re-assigned it but it displays the same error.Regular backups are running. Any inputs to fix this will be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

2014
Backing Up
Backup and Recovery
Backup Exec
Troubleshooting
Windows Server (2003-2008)
  • pkh's avatar
    pkh
    11 years ago
    This is because the job switched to overwrite mode If it is in the media set with infinite protection then it is protected from being overwritten forever
  • Anishk's avatar
    Anishk
    Level 3
    11 years ago

    Hi,

        I tried those steps before posting and the tape drive is working fine with other cartridge. First I set the job as one time backup and it failed with the same message, after seeing a post i scheduled the backup and tried but the same error message was thrown. The cartridge is also online.

     


     

  • VJware's avatar
    VJware
    Level 6
    11 years ago

    Is this backup job set to overwrite ? (Should be set to either overwrite media OR append media, overwrite if no appendable media)

    Are you using a stand-alone tape drive or a tape library ?

  • pkh's avatar
    pkh
    Moderator
    11 years ago
    Did you associate this new tape with the media St with infinite protection before you run the job? If so, then the take would be infinitely protected intermediately. You should associate this tape with the scratch media set and run your job. Once the job uses this tape it would be associate with the media set with infinite protection if this is targeted by your job
  • Anishk's avatar
    Anishk
    Level 3
    11 years ago

    No the backup should be preserved and set not to overwrite this tape. This is a standalone half height tape drive. The option I used is append to media, terminate job if no appendable media is available.

     

     

  • pkh's avatar
    pkh
    Moderator
    11 years ago
    You cannot spend too an empty tape. You must specify overwrite. This is the reason why your job failed
  • Anishk's avatar
    Anishk
    Level 3
    11 years ago

    Hi,

     after choosing the otpion Append to media, overwrite if no appendable media is available, the backup fired. But my requirement is that the tape should not be overwritten once it is full. How to protect it from overwriting when the backup expires.

  • pkh's avatar
    pkh
    Moderator
    11 years ago
    This is because the job switched to overwrite mode If it is in the media set with infinite protection then it is protected from being overwritten forever
  • VJware's avatar
    VJware
    Level 6
    11 years ago

    In addition to keeping the tape in a don't allow overwrite media set, slide to write protect on the tape thereby keeping it physically overwrite protected as well.

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