Insert Overwritable media

[KHarvey]

I learned last week that Backup Exec 2010 R2 does not automatically load balance between drives in a robotic library.  So I took all of my current Jobs and broke them into 2 jobs (I have 2 drives in my Spectra Logic).

For the most part everything has been working, but I occasionally get an error that asks me to insert overwritable media into the robotic library (V-275-439).  The problem that I have is that I do have overwritable media in the library, and that media does have space on it.

What I have found is that when Job 1 starts it will register tape 1 and fill up that tape.  Job 2 when it starts will register tape 2 and fill up that tape.  Lets say that Job 1 runs a little faster and fills tape 1 all the way, it will then take tape 3 and register tape 3.  But lets say that Job1 only fills tape 3 10% of the way then it completes.  Now lets say that job 2 fills up tape 2 all the way, job 2 will not load tape 3 to use the rest of the 90% of the tape.  This is when I receive the "Please insert overwritable media into the robotic library" error.

I have 2 ways around this, I can either add a new tape, which Job 2 will take and begin to fill up (about 25% of the way).  But this is a waste of tapes as I have 85% of a full tape empty across 2 tapes rather than just one.

The other fix is if I cancel Job 2 and then rerun the job.  At that point Job 2 will register tape 3 and begin to use that tape.

I thought maybe if I stagger the 2 backup jobs, but if I were to do that it defeats the purpose of running 2 jobs, and having 2 drives in my library, as I would only use 1 drive at a time.

When I receive this error, I have tried running an Inventory, I have tried unlocking the drive, moving the tapes, and running the Inventory again, but it still says that there aren't any overwritable media in the library, even though I have several 100 GBs of free space left on the current tapes.

Is there a way around this?

Hopefully I explained this well enough.

[Ken_Putnam]

but it still says that there aren't any overwritable media in the library, even though I have several 100 GBs of free space left on the current tapes

Overwrite means start from the beginning of the tape.  You are trying to get BackupExec to continue as an append on an second volume.

Continuation tapes are ALWAYS overwrite.  Append only pertains to the first tape volume of a job

There is no way aroung this

[CraigV]

Hi there,

Check your Append/OPP (Overwrite Protection Period) settings on your media sets. the reason why a tape is probably not being taken as the next tape in the backup job is because either of those are incorrect.

Either you've got an OPP of too many days, or your append period is too short. Either 1 would cause the prompt you are receiving.

Also, make sure you have enough tapes available in each media set...

Laters!

[KHarvey]

but it still says that there aren't any overwritable media in the library, even though I have several 100 GBs of free space left on the current tapes

Overwrite means start from the beginning of the tape.  You are trying to get BackupExec to continue as an append on an second volume.

Continuation tapes are ALWAYS overwrite.  Append only pertains to the first tape volume of a job

There is no way aroung this 

That doesn't quite make sense, because if I cancel the job, and rerun it, it will use the tapes that have already started to be used by the first job.  If the job needed to mark as overwritable then that should continue to fail.  I have a feeling I am misunderstanding something very simplistic.

I just checked my Media Set Properties and they are set to

Overwrite Protection

10 Weeks

Append period:

None Inifinite - Allow Append

[JoaoMatos]

HI,

how jobs are configred? Append to media, overwrite?

[KHarvey]

When this job begins:

Append to media, overwrite if no appendable media is available

[JoaoMatos]

of course all updates donne. area ll jobs using same media set?

Keep im mind what Ken Putnman said: "Continuation tapes are ALWAYS overwrite.  Append only pertains to the first tape volume of a job"

[KHarvey]

Yeah, all the jobs are using the same media set (just double checked again)

I originally had this problem with my Month End backups.  But now I am having this problem with my Incremental based on my Weekend backup.

So on Fridays I do a Full Backup (2 different so that I can utilize both drives), then Sunday through Thursday I run Incremental backups against my Weekly Fulls.  The Weekly Full and the Daily Incrementals use the same Media set

[Kiran_Bandi]

I have 2 ways around this, I can either add a new tape, which Job 2 will take and begin to fill up (about 25% of the way).  But this is a waste of tapes as I have 85% of a full tape empty across 2 tapes rather than just one. 

The tapes which are having free space will be used again, when the backup job starts. But will not use those while spanning. I don't think it is a problem.

But if you don't want to happen like that you can do one thing.As you divided all your jobs into two, but both required a little more space than one tape to complete. Rewise your jobs again such that one will complete within one tape and the other may require two.

[CraigV]

Hi,

Under: Tools --> Options --> Media Management, which of the following 2 options do you have selected:

Overwrite scratch media before overwriting recyclable media contained in the targeted media set

Overwrite recyclable media contained in the targeted media set before overwriting scratch media

?

[Colin_Weaver · Accepted solution]

In answer to KHarvey's Comment:

That doesn't quite make sense, because if I cancel the job, and rerun it, it will use the tapes that have already started to be used by the first job.  If the job needed to mark as overwritable then that should continue to fail.  I have a feeling I am misunderstanding something very simplistic.

If your jobs are set to start as an append then cancelling it and restarting it will allow you to use the same tape because it can append to it.

As has already been indicated a job that has filled a tape and needs another cannot a append and must overwrite to the next tape. If your only available media contains data that is overwrite protected even if that media has space on it, only a job that is starting as an Append (not an Append job that asks for a second tape) can use it.

What this means is your scenario where

What I have found is that when Job 1 starts it will register tape 1 and fill up that tape.  Job 2 when it starts will register tape 2 and fill up that tape.  Lets say that Job 1 runs a little faster and fills tape 1 all the way, it will then take tape 3 and register tape 3.  But lets say that Job1 only fills tape 3 10% of the way then it completes.  Now lets say that job 2 fills up tape 2 all the way, job 2 will not load tape 3 to use the rest of the 90% of the tape.  This is when I receive the "Please insert overwritable media into the robotic library" error.

Is expected and you have to make another overwritable tape available as any option involving messing with your media sets or media management rules might make your job finish but could end up overwriting the data from Job 1 that is on the start of tape 3 which I suspect would not be desirable.

The other option (again already mentioned in this thread) would be to adjust how much data is selected in your jobs so one job only needs 1 tape and the other job needs slightly more space on 2 tapes.