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Help! Backup Exec 12.5 with Quantum DLT-V4 drives, lots of issues!

Kremlar
Level 4
Partner
Sorry it's very long-winded, but I want to be complete.  Please bear with
me.  Here's my story:


SERVER #1

 - Windows Server 2003 32-Bit SP2

 - Symantec Backup Exec 12.5 Rev 2213 with SP3 and a bunch of hotfixes

 - Intel SE7320SP2 Motherboard

 - Addonics AD2SA3GPX1 PCIe SATA Controller (Silicon Image Sil 3132)
   (running latest non-RAID BIOS 7.7.02 & driver 1.0.22.0 dated 10/3/07)

 - Quantum DLT-V4 SATA Internal Drive
   (running latest firmware 10.0 & Symantec driver 5.1.37.0 dated 4/12/07)

 - Quantum DLTtape VS1 Tapes

 - Quantum DLT VS160 Cleaning Cartridge

Approximately 2 months ago we replaced an aging Sony AIT-2 Turbo internal
drive with a new Quantum DLT-V4 SATA internal drive and Addonics SATA PCIe
controller card + tapes.  Backup ran fine for a couple weeks, but started
giving us errors:

Error category    : Backup Media Errors
Error             : e00084ec - A tape read/write error has occurred.  This
is usually caused by dirty read/write heads in the tape drive.  Clean the
tape drive, and then try the job again.  If the problem persists, try a
different tape.  You may also need to check for problems with cabFor
additional information regarding this error refer to link V-79-57344-34028


Errors seemed to follow particular tapes, while other tapes worked fine.
So, I replaced the suspected bad tapes and it would work for a week or so
until the error recoccurred.  I replaced I believe 3 tapes.

One other symptom that I didn't pay much attention to at the time is, at
least some of the time, when the error occurred the CLEAN light would flash
once per second on the drive.  When this occurred, I would run a cleaning
cartridge through and swap the tape.

Sometimes when I found a "bad" tape I could not even successfully run an
INVENTORY or QUICK ERASE on the tape - the drive would go on for minutes and
Backup Exec would sometimes mark the drive as OFFLINE and fail the job.

Approximately 1-2 weeks ago the error started occurring much more
frequently, and I couldn't get a successful backup even on a brand new tape.
I tried reseating the SATA controller, replacing the SATA cable, and
cleaning the drive - same issue.  So, I called Quantum and after much hassle
and running their diagnostics utility they agreed to replace the drive.

Brand new replacement drive came in and I installed last Friday AM.
Inventoried a couple tapes successfully, then put in Friday night's tape and
found the CLEAN light flashing once per second again (without even starting
a backup job)!  This time I looked up this error in Quantum's documentation,
and they indicate it means:

Calibration error or permanent write/read error, cleaning suggested

I tried inserting 4 tapes, and 2 out of those 4 consistently produced the
CLEAN light flash while 2 others did not.  Running an INVENTORY or QUICK
ERASE on either tape was unsuccessful.  The drive would simply go OFFLINE
after a while and fail the job.  Since this was a brand new drive, I figured
the tapes might be bad.  Which brings me to server #2:

SERVER #2

 - Windows Server 2003 R2 32-Bit SP2

 - Symantec Backup Exec 12.5 Rev 2213 with SP3 and a bunch of hotfixes

 - Intel SE7320EP2 Motherboard

 - Addonics AD2SA3GPX1 PCIe SATA Controller (Silicon Image Sil 3132)
   (running latest non-RAID BIOS 7.7.02 & driver 1.0.22.0 dated 10/3/07)

 - Quantum DLT-V4 SATA Internal Drive
   (running latest firmware 10.0 & Symantec driver 5.1.37.0 dated 2/12/08 -
same version but different date than Server #1 for some reason)

 - Quantum DLTtape VS1 Tapes

 - Quantum DLT VS160 Cleaning Cartridge


Approximately 2 weeks ago we replaced an aging Sony AIT-2 Turbo tape drive
on this server, and backups had been running fine.

So, I decided to take these 2 possibly bad tapes and test them on this
server.  Both tapes INVENTORIED fine, ran QUICK ERASES, and I was even able
to run a small test backup without issue.  So, I figured the tapes must be
fine.

Back on Server #1, to be sure the controller card wasn't doing anything
funny, I unplugged the drive from the controller and simply left it hooked
to power.  Sure enough, inserting either one of those tapes on Server #1
still produced the CLEAN light error.

SO, I then replaced the brand new tape drive on Server #1 direct from
Quantum with ANOTHER brand new drive I had.  Once I did that, all tapes seem
to read fine (no CLEAN light).  I was able to INVENTORY and QUICK ERASE the
previously suspected bad tapes.  I then ran a successful full backup on
Friday night and Monday night - so I figure problem solved (fingers
crossed)!  I must have gotten a bad replacement drive from Quantum.

BUT although Server #2 had successfully run it's backup Friday night,
Monday's backup failed.  Checking the log it was the exact same error:

Error category    : Backup Media Errors
Error             : e00084ec - A tape read/write error has occurred.  This
is usually caused by dirty read/write heads in the tape drive.  Clean the
tape drive, and then try the job again.  If the problem persists, try a
different tape.  You may also need to check for problems with cabFor
additional information regarding this error refer to link V-79-57344-34028


Tried running an INVENTORY and QUICK ERASE on the tape from a remote
location, both completed successfully, but I tried running the backup again
and after a couple GB it again failed with the same error.  Came on-site and
found the CLEAN light flashing on this drive as well!

Replaced that tape with a brand new tape, and it is now in the middle of
running a full backup.  It seems it will complete successfully, but won't
know for sure for a couple hours.


So what the heck is going on?  I don't even know what to think at this
point.  Could "bad" tapes somehow corrupt the heads on a good drive and
cause a drive failure?

ANY suggestions are greatly appreciated!!

 
1 REPLY 1

pkh
Moderator
Moderator
   VIP    Certified
It may be cold comfort for you, but I faced a similar situation once with my HP LTO4 tape drive.  Although both the drive and tapes are only a couple of months old, there are a lot of intermittent read/write errors and a lot of demands to clean.  HP and Symantec pointed fingers at each other.  Since I am on maintenance contract, I forced HP to replace the drive and the problems disappeared.  I am still using the "bad" tapes today without problems.