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Dan_Neuwirth's avatar
Dan_Neuwirth
Level 3
18 years ago

Unable to eject Dell RD1000 cartridge

Greetings,
 
Anyone had issues ejecting Dell RD1000 cartridges (40Gb through 200Gb hard-disk based removeable carts) when used as a backup target for BESR recovery points?
 
The drive works great, but when it comes time to switch cartridges, the eject button does nothing.  An attempt to eject the cartridge via My Computer gives "Error ejecting the media.  It could be in use".
 
When the BESR service is stopped, the cartridge can be immediately ejected on the first try.
 
Once BESR is started again, the eject capability is once again lost.
 
It strikes me that Symantec is "locking" the drive open, even when not in the middle of a recovery point creation--basically when it has no business touching the drive. 
 
This is a bad practice, as it is disallowing other system processes (like "eject" ) from using that drive, and makes this product virtually impossible to use as a viable backup product that allows for off-site backup strategies.  I understand that BESR is primarily targeted at "non-removeable" media, but a good backup strategy necessitates that we also have off-site swaps of the target media.  So this product is pretty well useless for single-server bare metal backups that can be taken off-site--at least in convenient form--without buying other backup products and drives to back up the target data (i.e. BESR creates the image file, then some second backup product backs up the image file to a removeable cartridge.)  Geez, what a hassle.
 
Any help?
 
-Dan

Message Edited by Dan Neuwirth on 06-28-200702:13 PM

Backup and Recovery
BESR 7.x and Earlier
System Recovery

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  • Dan_Perry's avatar
    Dan_Perry
    17 years ago
    Bill,

    This issue is still coming up. Is there any newer information? Is it still under engineering investigation or is this the final solution? It doesn't seem to happen on all systems. Testing in my lab was ok. Would it help if you had a RD1000?

    Dan
  • acetcetera's avatar
    acetcetera
    Level 2
    17 years ago

    I have the RD1000 with Backup Exec 12 (with all the latest patches) installed at two different client sites both running on Windows Server 2003 machines. One site is working perfectly well, while the other site is having issues with ejecting the removable disk.

     

    Reading this post I noticed the workaround to stop the RDXmon services then eject. Interestingly enough, on the client site that does work the service is listed as RDXmon 1.12, while the non-working site's service is listed as RDXmon 1.16 (I had downloaded the latest drivers from Dell on the non-working site and used the install disk that came with the unit on the working site).

     

    I have since uninstalled the newer version of the RDX utilities and installed the older 1.12 version on the non-working site. This seems to have resolved the issue as far as initial testing goes (ran a backup job and was able to eject the drive by pressing the button).

     

    Hope this helps and good luck!

  • CNS_Robert's avatar
    CNS_Robert
    Level 3
    16 years ago

    I took the advice and downgraded to RDXmon 1.12 but the cartridge will still not eject from a hardware eject button after a successful Symantec Backup Exec 12d job.  Quick question ... does Removable Storage service need to be running (NtmsSvc) ???   We have had Dell working with us and somewhere along the line that service was set to DISABLED.  Just wondering if that needs to be running.

     

    Most frustrating thing ever and kills all perceived value for client who has brand new SBS2003 and all new Dell workstations.

     

    FYI - RD1000 works fine as long as Symantec Backup Exec 12d job is not run.

     

    Suggestions??  Please advise..thx