Bad Media ??

[SCrook]

We recently transitioned from BE10 to BE11 and now that I'm trying to get our tape library back on-line and working I seem to have an abundance of "Bad Media" all of a sudden.

I am using a Qualstar Robotic Library with a Sony SDX-700C (AIT-III) tape drive and the drive gets cleaned monthly via an automatic job. 

I am also using all the same tapes we used before (Sony SDX3-100C) that supposedly worked fine. Now when I load the library and perform an inventory - as many as 6 out of 10 tapes come back as "Bad Media"

As I type this I am running an inventory on 10 tapes that were listed as good from previous inventory jobs and already 4 of 8 are now showing "Bad Media".

Is there some sort of phenomenon or formatting issue between BE10 & 11 that could cause this?

I know that in the grand scheme of data recovery that tapes are "cheap" but I'm not sure the bean counters will be happy with having to replace half (or more) of our tape stock.

More importantly - I'm not sure I can put a lot of faith into a system that can't even consistently tell me if a tape is good or bad.

[dbaish]

Hey SCrook.  Please tell me that you figured this one out!  I'm having the EXACT same problem with Sony SDX3-100C tapes with a Sony SDX-700C (AIT-III) tape drive.

The tapes were created using an older version of Backup Exec and now that we want to start using the tapes again on Backup Exec 11d, they're all showing as bad media.

Just like you, I HIGHLY doubt that all of the tapes are bad.  I just can't seem to figure this one out.

As a side note, we also have SDX3-100C tapes that we use currently for another backup with Backup Exec 11d, and they register fine.  Please let me know if you've figured anything out with this.  Thanks.

[SCrook]

So far with the Holidays I have been out of the office quite a bit.

I am just now getting back in and starting to work on the problem again.

But to answer your question - to this point I have not found any solution.

As part of this transition, we had to replace the drive with a new one and I'm wondering if there is a problem with this new drive.

Even brand new tapes out of the package are being reported as "Bad Media"

I have already decided that I am going to try contacting Sony directly it's just a matter of when other job duties will allow me to focus on this issue again.

Right now we are making B2D back-ups to a large storage server as a temporary solution.

If you happen to come up with anything on your end - please let me know as well.

Thanks.

Stephen

[dbaish]

SCrook, I stumbled across a page on Sony's website that may be part of your problem.  I have a good feeling that it's part of my problem.

Check out http://sony.storagesupport.com/cgi-bin/sonysupport.cgi/G6avRMX483sar9GI2nFiRV5B0jvwlQM=/faq/view/536.

I don't know your configuration, but it says that there's a known compatibility problem with the Ultra160 family SCSI cards and the SDX-D700C tape drive.  This may be what you're looking for.

I tried to install SP5 like it says, but I'm running Backup Exec on a 64 bit system so it wouldn't allow me to.  That has to be the problem though.  Let me know if this helps you.