Backup Exec 12.5 will not load tape details in Devices

[chrispc]

I'm a bit new to this and wasn't responsible for setting up BE or the tape drive, so please excuse in advance.  The problem I'm running into is this:

When I load tapes into our HP StorageWorks Tape Drive and browse to the Devices tab in BE, the HP Ultrium selections will not list out the media details.  I can right-click on the HP Ultrium LTO4 selection and it only gives me the option to Inventory or Eject the media when what I want to do is Erase the data on the tape.  If I restart all BE services and bring it up (which is a pain since the server has a raid configuration), then BE will recognize the tapes I put in.  Off on the left-hand column it does give me the option to Eject, Inventory, Scan but selecting Scan does nothing.

[Ken_Putnam · Accepted solution]

whenever you swap tapes, you need to inventory the slot affected (or if you use barcodes, scan the slot)

This is the only way to let BackupExec know what tape has just been mounted

[RahulG]

Incase if you are putting a brand new tape , as best practice run a quick erase on the tape and there after when you swap the tape Run inventory on the tape as suggested by Ken .

[Belgske]

Same issue here.

Other postings(1) (2) claim that running the inventory job is not necessary after a tape swap before running backupjob. But it is indeed weird that Symantec backup does not show the mounted media after a swap.

(1) http://www.symantec.com/connect/forums/auto-inventory-tape-drive-once-tape-inserted-single-drive#comment-4634171

(2) https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/simplify-tape-backup-process-be-2010-r2-using-single-lto-4-tape-drive

Roger

[ZeRoC00L]

Yes and no, an inventory is not necessary, but a swapped tape will not be visible in the GUI.
The backup will run fine, because an automatically inventory will be done at the start of the backup.

[CraigV]

...I have never seen that happen! An automated, scheduled inventory, yes, but not an inventory done by the system when the backup starts. I have never seen that happening BEFORE it kicks off a snapshot.