Backup Exec 2010 fails overwrite after ITDT write/test to tape

[DaranDazza]

I have found that when ITDT is used to write test a tape in a Tape Drive that backup Exec cannot then write to that tape unless I have BE10 do a quick erase.

This discovery came about after some of our remote sites complained that certain tapes would not backup - after some experimenting and troubleshooting - we realised that at some point in time - one of our helpdesk people have had to run ITDT as a test (for whatever reason).

However the end result is that ITDT, in running a test of the device by writing to the inserted tape, (usual warning that the current Data will be erased and overwritten) - the testing causes the tape to be no longer available to Symantec Backup Exec... note.... that we always do a full over-write set.

We never have any problem with new tapes nor previously used tapes as the "Over-Write" instruction has always worked - but not in this case/s.

We have found that we have to do a "Quick Erase" in order to make the tape vailable for BE to over-write.

Query here - Is there a way of getting BE to auto do this Quick Erase as not everyone in our Support Section are competent with BE - particularly our onsite Techs who only deal with BE issues on a very irregular basis - (there are about 900 onsite techs scattered throughout the State - dealing with over a 1000 domains).

[VJware]

Instead of a "quick erase", if you move the tape to "scratch media set", does it get picked up by BE for an overwrite ?

[pkh]

If you want to overwrite the tapes automatically then 1. Set your OPP such that the tapes are overwritable BEFORE the start of the job. You con check this by clicking on the tape in the Media tab. Bear in mind that the OPP starts from the end of the last job which writes to the tape 2. Your job should specify Overwrite

[Colin_Weaver · Accepted solution]

If VJwares move to scratch idea does not work then it is possible that ITDT is laying down a non-standard header as it is performing a destructive test of writing data to the tape as part of the test.

A quick erase then resets the header (and moves to scratch) allowing Backup Exec to use it

Whilst you might be able to script (using BEMCLI) a request to erase any tape in the drive there is no automated way for Backup Exec to just decide to do it. However if you did this and someone left an important tape in the drive you might lose data.

Also if you are using a robotic library you would need to know which slot (or slots) the affected tapes are in to write the scripts asd you would need to want to quick erase a tape that contains a recent backup.

As such I don't think trying to script/automate it would be a good idea as you could lose data if the wrong tape is erased

[DaranDazza]

Reply to VJWare - placing Tapes into the Scatch Media does not help.

Reply to PKH - The tapes are already set via OPP to be overwritable before the start of the job - Our jobs do specify Overwrite (everytime).

Reply to Colin Weaver - I believe that Your diagnosis regarding ITDT is correct - However as we are contracted to DELL for support (all our servers are DELL supplied) - Dell requires us to run an ITDT diagnostic whenever we have a problem with Tape Drives.

Most of our servers do not have a robotic library (just a few) - so that is actually not a big problem - we can avoid those Domains.

I was hoping that there would be an automated command to insert into our standardised backups - as we have tried to make life as simple as possible for remote users - That is why we have chosen to overwrite everytime as part of that simplification process.  (Our remote users are not tech savvy).

My thanks to everyone for helping out here.