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Cannot overwrite/associate RDX cartridges

Agility
Level 2
Partner

Hello all,

I've had an SBS2011 installation running Backup Exec 2012 running for 6 weeks now, backing up to an RD1000 drive (Dell server).  Everything was brand new, the server, the software and the RDX drives.  All has been running well up till this week when one of the backups started failing, complaining that the RDX was not overwritable.  Looking at the All Media view, I can see that two of the RDXs have gone into a different media set (Backup Exec and Windows NT Backup Media) and have been put onto complete overwrite/append protection.  This appears to have happened autonomously.

I've tried to associate the problem RDXs with the correct media set, but the option is greyed out.  I've wiped them, re-inventoried and even formatted them in Windows, but nothing I do seems to "unlock" them.  I've checked the physical lock switch on them hasn't been set, so now I'm stumped.  I've even brought a brand new RDX, and as soon as it went into the server it went into the same status.

I've just applied SP1a, to no avail.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

36 REPLIES 36

VJware
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

First issue - www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH70364

Second issue - http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH191513

Colin_Weaver
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

if this is IMG (GRT) backup folders that are not deleting on IMG in BE 2012 then it is likely to be

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH192382

 

 

Agility
Level 2
Partner

Many thanks, I've got a case logged so I'll post updates as they come in.

0zzY
Level 4

Hi all.

I have the same problem. Any news about it?

In addition i can't overwirte the media after the retention period, BE ask me a new RDX disk without overwrite!

 

 

VJWare link's are broken

Colin_Weaver
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

If the BKF files themselves are not being deleted/overwritten then check that you are set to use recyclable media before scratch and not the other way around.

 

For the IMG media we are still researching the issue in the technote I posted earlier.

0zzY
Level 4

and what about the problem to associate media to other media-set? (images linked by agility in the first post)

Colin_Weaver
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

I don't know what the MHB files are but the FLDR objects are container objects and by design are located in the NT Backup ... media set (hence they cannot be moved by design)

Backup Exec 2012 does not expose the IMG and BKF files to you however if it did you would see the BKF files are in the media sets defined by the jobs.

BTW whilst not finalized it looks like the next version of BE will use Data Lifecycle Management (DLM)  for RDX drives as well. As such media sets will then ony be used for tapes. DLM is currently used by standard disk storage but not removable (RDX) 

0zzY
Level 4

MHB are FLDR objects renamed.

By default a new media is defined as "BE and Win NT backup media", before the last update i was able to associate media to different media set..

0zzY
Level 4

I have totally removed BE2012 and reinstalled, but the problem remains.. I can't associate media to media set different from the default "Bexec and winNT backup media"..

..any news about it?

bingabong
Level 3

I have the same problem with my new SBS2011 server running Backup Exec 2012. RDX Drive is used. My media gets used then ends up in the 'Backup Exec and Windows NT Backup Media' Media Set so i can longer append to them.

I've read TECH192382 - is there any further update to this?

Should i be raising a support call for this?

Colin_Weaver
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

Please define what you mean by media - as already metioned if you mean the cartridge object itself then by design it is restricted to the NT Backup set and cannot be moved.

If you mean the BKF files and IMG folders that are held inside the RDX cartridge these do use media sets but the information is not displayed to you in the console and we do have a defect about IMG folders not being reclaimed/deleted/overwritten causing the cartridges to fill up. We have a controlled release of a orphan hotfix designed to address this issue but you have to log a formal support case to get it as it is not yet a public release

We also have annother defect where the media that represenets the RDX cartridge cannot be deleted - this will be fixed soon (althogn may possibly also have an orphan Hotfix - I am not in office to check)

C_dric_L_
Not applicable

Hello,

I join this conversation since I upgrade my BE 2010R3 to 2012 and have similar issues with my RDX cartridges.

My jobs with a LTO work just fine, but with RDX, I experiment the issues describe above : my RDX cartridge are directly associated with the 'Backup Exec and Windows NT Backup Media' so I cannot overwrite them, ans the second point is I can just append on a new cartridge until it's full, and not overwrite despite the expiration date is over (http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH189356 )

The RDX cannot be delete (like : http://www.symantec.com/connect/issues/unable-delete-removable-disk-cartridge-media-backup-exec-2012... ) and cannot be move to another media set (I create one for RDX).

Did I misanderstund something or is there a fix for this ? Or did I call the support ?

thank you for your help.

Chuck_Bridgelan
Level 2
Partner Accredited

Just to chime in, I'm having the exact same issue: SBS2011, Backup Exec 2012.  Fully patched (liveupdate finds no updates to apply).

We have 3 cartridges, we want to do a three week rotation (full on day, incremental the rest of the week, cycle through the three cartridges on a weekly basis). 

The link provided by VJware in the first reply:

First issue - www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=conte...

provides hotfixes for older versions of Backup Exec.

The workaround here (http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH70364), I can do, but I'm not sure our customer will remember to do this.

We kind of need a fix. 

 

 

 

 

 

Colin_Weaver
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

If you need a fix urgently we have an Orphan update this is released under controlled cirumstances as Orphan updates are similar in nature to Beta releasse

 

As such to get the Orphan you MUST log a formal support case

EvilJester
Level 2
Partner

Same issue here too. SBS2011 and BE2012, can't change RDX media association. Works fine on server 2008R2 with BE2012, why the problems with SBS?

Andrew_Griggs
Level 3
Partner

Hi Colin,

I've received the Orphan update (a few weeks ago now actually), but as the affected servers all belong to my customers, I've been hesitant to apply the update.  Is there an ETA for the official fix?

My customers have also been hit with a second RDX issue TechID 192382: IMG folders not being overwritten when located inside RDX media.  I've logged a second case for this problem, again, do you have any further details regarding the ETA for a fix?

Many thanks,

Andy.

TTG
Not applicable

Just to recap:

 

1. RDX Media moved to  NT Backup set - by design. Can we name the cartriges at least so it doesnt create 10000 different ones? It creates a new name every time I swap a catrige.

2. It should append/overwrite anyway because the append/overwriteapplies to the IMG and not to the media itself. If is doesn't, request the orphan hotfix?

3. In order to delete the media we can run the following command (since we can't move it to the Retired Media Set and the "delete" action is greyed out.) 

 

Get-BEMedia "fldr000019" | Remove-BEMedia - force

 

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/using-bemcli-speed-tasks

Deleting Media

Suppose you want to delete a tape from BE. If you use the GUI, then you would need to associate it with the retired media set before you can delete it. With BEMCLI, you do it with one command, e.g.

Get-BEMedia -name "000001L4" | Remove-BEMedia -Force

The -Force parameter will delete the media even if it is not in the Retired Media set. This is certainly faster than using the GUI.

 

 

 

 

 

KevinLuke
Level 3

@Agility,

Have you received any updates? I have ran into this same issue. I implemented an RDX1000 Drive on a brand new server running Windows 2011 SBS. The media somehow automagically moved themselves from the Media Set I had created to the Backup Exec and Windows NT Backup Media set. This has been causing failures to my backups. I am no long able to write to the media or move it back to the correct media set. Thoughts?

Andrew_Griggs
Level 3
Partner

@KevinLuke

No updates yet, I've had a couple of Symantec techs connect in to one of the affected SBS servers to see the problem first hand and I've also got another Webex booked in for next week for a higher-level tech. 

In the interim I've been manually removing the older backup files from the BEX gui, but I believe someone further down this post has posted the command-line instruction to script this action.

I'll update this post accordingly.