Cannot get above 87mb transfer rate on tape backup

[Matt_K]

I'm having a very hard time with my backup. I have defragmented the hard drives, swapped out cable, scsi card, and tape drive with no luck.
I'm using veritas buexec 9.1 fully patched
Exabyte vxa-2
adaptec 29160
all hardware is up to date on drivers/firmware. The backups used to get around 450-490mb/minute, but now it will not go above 87mb/minute.
Backup to disc on network runs super quick, so there has to be something with hardware settings in veritas.
I'm using driver version 4.0.0.0 (adpu160m.sys version d4.10.4000) for the adaptec 29160.

thanks for your help

[Jaroslaw_Smolar]

What is settings for SCSI controler? Is there Sync or Async transfer set for SCSI channel? Is on the same channel other SCSI HDD? Or maybe there is a RAID set on channel?

[Ashutosh_Tamhan]

Do the following technotes help?
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/237444.htm
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/249090.htm
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/231488.htm


Regards,
Ashutosh

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[Matt_K]

Jaroslaw:

I don't know about the async or sync settings in the bios on the adaptec 29160. The Raid 5 array is on a separate card (adaptec 2120S). The Exabyte tape drive is on it's own card/cable with scsi id of 6, properly terminated.

Ashutosh:
I've done the disk fragmentation, and seen all 3 artilcles you've mentioned.

I don't understand how I just started a backup to disk job and it's running at 414mb/minute. If I cancel this job and run one to tape drive, i get a max of 87mb/minute.

[tejashree_Bhate]

Hello,

Please install the latest Veritas drivers from the following link. Check if the device is tested.

(title) VERITAS Backup Exec (tm) 9.1 - Device Driver Installer (20050115) - Includes Tape Driver Release (20041231) and Robotic Library Release (45) (Intel Only)

http://support.veritas.com/docs/273853

(title) Backup Exec 9.x for Windows Servers Standalone Drives Hardware Compatibility List (HCL)
http://support.veritas.com/docs/271382
(title) Backup Exec 9.x for Windows Servers Robotic Library Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) (includes tested drives)
http://support.veritas.com/docs/271383

Thanks

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[Matt_K]

I have installed the latest drivers per your request, and still no luck.
the drive is listed on the compatibility chart. it's an exabyte vxa-2 internal scsi tape drive.

Still running backup to disk without issues. This system used to run flawlessly on current equipment. I have replaced scsi card, cable, and tape drive with same models.

[tejashree_Bhate]

Hello,

The slow performance of the backup jobs may be due to the following reasons:

1) Antivirus scanning done at the time of the backup.
2) Poor disk performance.
3) SCSI ID's not configured properly of the SCSI card and the Tape Device.
4) Older firmware version of the SCSI card and Tape drive.
5) Disk Decrementing utilities running at the time of backup.
6) Network bandwidth utilized by another program during the backup process.
Note: Contact your Hardware vendor for SCSI ID changes and Firmware
updates.

Thanks.

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