Backup to Disk not compressing?

[MitchR]

I'm setting up some Backup To Disk jobs, and I'm not sure if compression is on.
For all jobs going to disk, I have the Compression Type set to "Software".
After running several backup jobs, when I look at the media list the "Compression Ratio" column is blank.

The BE server is v11.0 build 7170 SP4, running on a 2003 Standard 64-bit, and the agents are a mix of 64 and 32-bit.

I have enough different jobs running that it's not easy to tell from the resulting files if compression is happening, but my gut says that it's not. :)

I did see this document:
    http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/287306.htm
but we are running 11.0 build 7170, so it doesn't apply.

Am I missing something?

[chicojrman]

The compression is done on the hardware level.
The tape drive may be trying to compress data that is already compressed or encrypted. If the data cannot be compressed any further than it already is, the attempt may cause the data to expand. Run a test backup with no compression to compare how much data can be written to the tape media without compression. When using hardware compression, software compression should be turned off, and vice-versa."
http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/199542.htm

[MitchR]

For tapes, yes, usually.  I'm talking about Backup To Disk.

[chicojrman · Accepted solution]

n backup job property under General tab select Software under Compression type. Software compression is the only compression method available for Backup-to-Disk (B2D) jobs due to the obvious lack of media hardware
Also refer to the following technote :

http://support.veritas.com/docs/273089

[MitchR]

Ah, that link helps.  A blank column is normal.

I'll have to do some detailed analysis to see what kind of compression I'm really getting.

[MitchR]

A quick follow up for anyone else with the same question.

I did an analysis of this weekend's backups, and we're getting close to 2.8 ratio compression - but the media list "Compression Ratio" column is blank.  All really is well.

Hey Symantec - can we get this fixed in future versions? 

[Ben_L_]

MitchR,

I'll see if I can get someone to look into this.  Also, you can submit bugs/enhancements at http://engweb.symantec.com/enhancement/