Backup Exec 2010 R3 Stuck in Queue

[samuelBE]

I have a sheduled backup job that start to run from 7pm which backup on two tapes,  when it riches around 1.7 TB ( in which when succeed reaches about 1.9 TB), it stuck. It dozen't give any error ( even in Windows Event Log). It just give the alert "Please insert overwrite-able media " . When i cancel the job and perform inventory it succeed. The most wired is that, when i see the job history while the job is queue, it shows me there are many jobs still running but when i see the job history after canceling the job , it show all completed ( except the verifications) and the only error it shows is that the job cancellation i performed. 

[CraigV]

You get that Error when there Is no Scratch/overwritable Tape available. If you have A library or autoloader, make Sure There Are Tapes available. If you Have a Stand-alone Drive, you Need to Have a formatted tape ready. Thanks! PS: sorry for the weird CAPS but i am on a tablet using the Connect app...it Seems to be a bit temperamental at the moment!!!

[CraigV]

...just 1 thing I thought of...if you're running an autoloader/library with partitions and there are no tapes in the partition that can be overwritten, there is no way for the job to span to another partition.

What you can also do (I've done this before) is to schedule an inventory job to start 15 minutes before the backups do, which is in line with what you're doing manually, but only after cancelling the running job.

Thanks!

[samuelBE]

thanks for your response ,

 if the there is no tape in the autoloader, then why doesn't it go queue state directly ( in my case, it do its backup job for a while, then suddenly queue). In addition when i cancel the job and perform inventory it shows all the tapes, so based on those can we say that the problem is with autoloader being out of tape? If so , how can it be? what about the media problem, can it cause queue?

If you could , can you tell me clearly, because i couldn't get your idea?  anyway about inventory 15 minutes before backup start , i have scheduled that for today's tape , we will see if it fix the problem and i will let you know about that.

best regards

[CraigV]

...there might be 1 tape in the autoloader that can be used which is why your job kicks off. If it spans 2 tapes though & there isn't a second scratch/overwritable tape, then the job queues.

Also, if you put tapes into an autoloader & don't run an Inventory or Scan (if using barcodes), then BE isn't aware of the tapes.

Thanks!

[samuelBE]

... as you pointed out, it could be the other tape, but after canceling , when i see the content of both the tapes , it shows me that both of them have been used ( based on the data and the backup ed date). So it clear that before going to queue state the backup exec can access the two tapes.

[CraigV]

OK so now you've added more information which wasn't in any previous posts about the backup completing.

If both tapes have been used, have you right-clicked the job when Queued to see what the prompt is?

THanks!

[samuelBE]

ya the prompt is ""Please insert overwrite-able media"!!!!

Is this alert is generalize alert for many problems or , as it say so, it is specific about that problem.

And do you have any idea about that when i cancel the job , in job history summery shows me that all media backups have completed successfully , but if i see the job history while the job is in the queue, it shows me there are many jobs not completed.

[samuelBE]

Today also as the Job queue as usalle 

But i think, i figure out the problem , my tapes are 800GB size ( with compression rate of 2:1 can hold 1.6TB according their label on their cover), but normaly they run with rate of  around 1.1:1 rate. But recentely , i have observed that most of the second tapes compression ration is 1:1, so on maximum both of tapes can store around 1.7TB and both of the tapes show me that their full when the job enters queue state. Do you have any idea, why the compression rate changes that sometime it is 1.2:1,1.1:1 and recent 1:1 ? And can I change the compression rate of the tapes? 

[CraigV · Accepted solution]

Nope, you can't change the compression ratio. This is dependant on the types of data being backed up (some data can't be compressed anymore, while other already-compressed data might increase in size!), as well as possibly faulty tapes and/or drive.

You can verify the hardware isn't an issue by downloading your drive manufacturer's diagnostic utility and running a compression test against the drive. Stop the BE services to do so. Also make sure you're using the Symantec drivers for the tape drive (use tapeinst.exe to install them).

Thanks!

[pkh]

As previously advised, your compression ratio depends on the type of data being backed up and cannot be changed.  If your mix of data contains a lot of data which is already compressed, like zipped and movie files, sound clips and jpegs, you will get bad compression ratio.  You might want to read my article below

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

I presume that you are using hardware compression.  You can test whether hardware compression is working by creating a directory and fill it with text files.  Back this up and it should give you good compression if your hardware compression is working.

You might want to clean your tape heads and also try out some new tapes to see whether the compression ratio improves.