Drive Type Compatibility for Cascade pool

[Kyu_Han]

I currently have a Dell DAT 72 drive and I would like to add another drive so I can cascade them. Will an HP DAT 72 drive be considered a "like" drive type ? The doc is really not clear as to what characteristics makes the drive types compatible for cascading.

thanks

[Ken_Putnam]

Any DAT72 should be compatible for this purpose

You just can't mix a DAT24 and a DAT72 for instance, even if they are from the same manufacturer

[Kyu_Han]

Thanks for clarification Ken.
One more question: Does the media used in the tape drives have to be the same. For example: in the first DAT 72 drive 36/72 tape is used and in the second DAT 72 drive 20/40 tape is used. Will this work in a cascade ?

[Ken_Putnam]

Should work OK

Backup Exec doesn't care what kind of media is mounted, as long as the drive and media are compatible

[Kyu_Han]

I purchased an HP Storageworks DAT72 to cascade with the Dell PV100T DAT72 I already have. I also have an HP DAT40 in the system. To my surprise, after I installed the the HP DAT72, and went to cascade the drives, BE grouped the HP DAT72 and HP DAT40 as like drives. I was under the impression that the HP DAT72 would be grouped with Dell DAT72 as these would be considered like drives. As I posted earlier, Veritas documentation is clear as mud on what compatible drives are. They need to have a list of what compatible drives are or make clearer what criteria that they are using. Frankly, I don't understand why it would make a difference what kind of dirves you're using. I just don't think it's very economical to experiment with what drives will work together and what will not and not to mention frustrating.

Anybody have any suggestions on getting the Dell DAT72 to cascade with an HP DAT72 ?

Thanks

[Ken_Putnam]

I've never seem BackupExec add a drive to a locally created pool, just the "All Drives" pool, which is not cascaded

You need to add it yourself to the Cascaded Pool that you have created

[Kyu_Han]

You're correct about the cascade pools not being created automatically. When I went to add the devices to cascade group, the choices were the HP DAT 72 and HP DAT 40 that can be cascaded, and the Dell DAT 72 was not listed in that grouping but as a separate type.