BE 2010 R3 keeps ejecting the tape

[ksl28]

Hello.

A couple of days ago, the BE started to eject the tapes  when i did backup approx 1.2 TB data.

The tape is at 1.6TB.

It just says Loading media.

The problem have been coming in periods, and now we cant just get it to work be reboot...

I can see that it is a known issue - but i cant seem to find a solution that works for our setup.

Specs:

Windows Server 2008R2 SP1

Windows Update is fully updated, and so is the BE.

Please help me fast, cause this is starting to be a major problem.

[ZeRoC00L]

Tape capacity of 1,6TB, that means at 2 to 1 compression. This is very optimistic.
Since you have 1,2TB written to tape, there is a very big change the tape is full.

[Donald_Eady]

You may also want to check the Statastics of the tape device.. Check for and soft/hard write errors. see doc below 

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH7363

[pkh · Accepted solution]

Are you using LTO4 or LTO5?

If it is the former, then the native (uncompressed) capacity is only 800GB.  1.6TB is a marketing thing which assumes a 2:1 compression ratio which is hardly achievable with a typical mix of data.  If you managed to get .1.2TB onto a LTO4 tape, this is a very good compression ratio, but you will be very close to the brim.  Any slight increase in data would mean that your tape is full and you would need a second overwritable tape for the job to continue.  There is no way around this.

If it is the latter, i.e. you are using a LTO5 tape, then as previously advised, you should check that there are not a lot of tape errors.  You might also want to run the manufacturer's diagnostic utility against the tape drive.  Select the write test and stop all the BE services beforehand.  If you have ruled out hardware or tape problems, then it could be that you are compressing data which is already compressed.  This can result in more data than what you have started with.  See my article on this subject

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/compression-short-explanation

[ksl28]

Hello.

Thank you all, for your fast reply!

We are using LTO4... 

Loading media, means that BE want an extra media to complete the job?

[pkh]

Yes.  BE needs a 2nd overwritable tape to continue the job.