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Files much larger on tape

Eric_Jesperson
Level 2
I'm trying to figure out why 7GB of data is taking up 66GB of space on the tape.

My vitals:
VXA-2 1x10 Packetloader - latest firmware - set to Exabyte 210 emulation.
Backup Exec 9.0.4454
Windows 2003 Server
VXA-2 tape X23 80GB native.

Now for the fun part. This is the incremental part of two jobs. Both are backing up the same data, both (other than incremental vs full) have the same settings.

Hardware compression is enabled. Default settings are being used for the drive.
Block Size: 64K
Buffer Size: 64K
Buffer Count: 10
High Water Count:7

The full backup is achieving a not so happy 1:1 compression ratio.
The incremental makes that look good at 0.105:1

I'm stumped.
5 REPLIES 5

Ken_Putnam
Level 6
Are you using Veritas drivers or manufacturer drivers?

If you shut down all BackupExec services, does NTBackup exhibit the same behavior?

Eric_Jesperson
Level 2
I'm using Veritas drivers. I'll have to check and see what NTBackup does.

I've discovered this morning that file sizes listed via Backup Exec, looking at tape properties->general, cannot be trusted. The original tape from this thread after being written to again, now shows 18GB used (which is correct). Another tape that was using 40GB is now claiming to be using 2GB. After having another 40GB (80GB total) written to it....sigh.

R_H_2
Level 5
First, max out Block Size, Buffer Size, and Buffer Count.

Then take a look at this:
http://ftp.support.veritas.com/pub/support/products/Backup_Exec_for_WindowsNT/281670.pdf

Page 12, the note under the VXA drives.

"1. Capacity and compression reporting is not currently supported for this device."

So if you are looking at the stats that BE is giving you, they are bogus.

If it is spanning tapes on you, then you have a problem...

Eric_Jesperson
Level 2
Sigh. I only read that note about vxa-2 drives at least 10 times. Forgot all about it in the daily rush here.

Thanks for the answers and sorry about wasting your time.

R_H_2
Level 5
Not a waste. Glad to help!