Does anyone know how to get Backup Exec to recognize the full size of the tape?

[KevinBemis]

I am using Bacup Exec ver. 11.d on a Windows 2003 server with a HP StorageWorks DAT 72x6 tape drive.  I have loaded 6 HP DAT 72 4mm tapes into the tape drive.  When I go into Backup Exec the software only sees the tapes as 33.6GB in size, I have enabled compression on the drive and yet I am only able to use half of the space on the tapes.  Also when I load new tapes into the unit, Backup Exec lists them as ? Blank, I have to manually tell it what the tapes are, and again it only recognizes 33.6GB worth of space.  Please any help is useful.  Thanks

Kevin B.

[SteveVRTS]

Backup Exec will not know the size of the tapes until it has filled them up or you have a drive which reports the size to Backup Exec.  I'm assuming that the native capacity of the tapes is 30 gig and that they compress to 60.  So you know, compression work similar to a zip file.  It will be almost impossible to actually get twice the native capacity on a tape.  Like a zip file, the type of data that your backing up with dictate the compression ratio that you will get.  If you are backing up only flat text files, you may be able to get close to double the native capacity.  If you are backing up a SQL DB you will get zero compression, because the DB is already compressed.