Cannot Use AIT-4 Tapes Previously Used by NTBACKUP

[Tony_Russell]

I have a Sony AIT-4 tape drive which I use with Backup Exec 10 on a Windows 2003 server. Before Backup Exec I used the same tape drive to carry out a number of backups with NTBACKUP. Now I want to overwrite these tapes with Backup Exec.

My problem is that Backup Exec will not overwrite these tapes. Each time I insert one of these old tapes and carry out an operation such as erase or backup, the tape drive goes offline. I can inventory the tape to see the contents but I cannot do anything else. I have tried moving the inventoried tape to scratch media but it still will not let me overwrite, and always causes the tape drive to go offline.

I have checked to make sure the write protection tab is not switched on.

Is there any way to reformat or erase these tapes so I can use them again?

[Steve_TYiybg]

Have you made sure you installed the latest veritas drivers and Disabled the removable storage service?

[Rucha_Abhyankar]

Hello Tony,


Please update us if the earlier provided solution has helped you in resolving the issue.



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[Ken_Putnam]

Don't know if this will work, but it's worth a try

Shut down all BackupExec services
Fire up NTBackup and relabel one (or more) of the old tapes
Restart BackupExec and see if it will now accept the old tapes.

Also, what is you Global Overwrite Protection set to?
Full? Partial?

[Tony_Russell]

I have the latest Veritas drivers installed. I disabled the removable storage service but still I could not overwrite the tape. I have now rebooted so I will see if this makes a difference with tonight's backup.

If this does not work I will try Ken's suggestion and let you know what happens.

The Global Overwrite Protection is set to None. However the overwrite protection for imported media (such as NT Backup media) is set to "do not overwrite". I have managed to move the tape to scratch media so it should be possible to overwrite the tape.

If it makes any difference, the media appears in a green font but the rest of the tapes are listed in a blue font.

I will let you know how it goes. Thanks for you help so far.

[Tony_Russell]

Switching off the removable storage service did not help. The backup still failed.

How do you relabel a tape in NTBACKUP? I could not find a relabel option?

[Deepali_Badave]

Hello,

Check if media has the soft write errors.

However, you may try performing the following:
- Update the SCSI driver.
- Update the firmware of the tape drive.
- Try cleaning the device used. Use the manufacturer manual for cleaning
instructions.

NOTE : If we do not receive your reply within two business days, this post would be marked assumed answered and would be moved to answered questions pool.

[Tony_Russell]

I am using the most up to date SCSI drivers. I have also cleaned the tape drive whenever prompted, and have recently updated the firmware. The firmware update has made the tape drive more reliable.

I think the easiest thing would be to buy new tapes. I was just wondering if there was a simple method of erasing tapes. What appears to be happening is NTBACKUP takes control of the the tape device when a NTBACKUP tape is inserted.