Backup to Disk Failing with error 0xe00084f4 - An unknown error has occurred

[BSD]

Our backups have been working fine until the last week then we started getting the following error in the Job Logs, with Our Backup to Hard Drive. All our Servers are Windows 2003, some are Windows 2003 R2.

Job Completion Status

Job ended: 20 June 2007 at 21:07:46
Completed status: Failed
Final error: 0xe00084f4 - An unknown error has occurred.
Final error category: System Errors

For additional information regarding this error refer to link V-79-57344-34036

Error

Backup- \\servername\Shadow?Copy?Components  - VSS Writer File System
An unknown error occurred on device "Data Backup".
V-79-57344-34036 - An unknown error has occurred.

Having Looked at support doc: http://support.veritas.com/docs/276639

It states To resolve this issue, always run the Backup Exec Device and Media Service under a domain logon account with administrative privileges, I've checked this and the account used ticks all the Admin boxes and the Backup Exec Remote Agent for Windows Servers is being run as the local system account.

I've recreated a new job with exactly the same settings and it fails too.

The doc states the backup  jobs will run successfully on tape drives. however the linked job fails with the following error:

Job Completion Status

Job ended: 20 June 2007 at 21:25:10
Completed status: Failed
Final error: 0xe00084ca - The data being read from the media is inconsistent.
Final error category: Backup Media Errors

For additional information regarding this error refer to link V-79-57344-33994

Error

Duplicate- Data
An inconsistency was encountered on the storage media in Data Backup.
V-79-57344-33994 - The data being read from the media is inconsistent.

I've checked: http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/273455.htm

This issue is with any tape, tapes are fine. There are no Errors in the event log regarding hardware errors.

I'm completely stumped.

Is this a Windows 2003 patch that could have caused this issue?

I have created a temporary job that only covers essential data and that works fine, but we need the full backup to be working.

Can anyone help?

[Dan_Wakeman · Accepted solution]

This is how I finally fixed the same error after a lot of effort and failed attempts.

Test your tape drive to be sure it works outside of Backup Exec. I had an HP drive. Go to hp.com/go/tape. Find the link under "value added software" for "Library and Tape Tools", click that link, download the software. L&TT is a free diagnostic tool for HP tape drives and libraries. If it works, the problem is within Backup Exec. (I was using 12.5 with the very latest drivers, literally posted this week).

1. Disable the tape drive in Backup Exec (right click on it)
2. Delete the tape drive in Backup Exec (right click again, need to disable first) This must be done in Backup Exec! Doing the same in Windows Device Manager and rebooting did not fix the problem.
3. Stop all the Backup Exec services (I did this with services manager & confirmed in Windows Services)
4. Start all the Backup Exec services
5. Start Backup Exec
6. The tape drive should be re-detected.

Dan

[Sheena_K_]

I've seen that alert on my online backups also. We discovered that the files we being changed either by the tape backup running near the online backup or by users causing the inconsistant alerts to be generated between when the backup started and when the verification finished. If you look at the data being backed up you should find that it is all there.  Hope that this helps.

Sheena K.