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LTO3 Tape Problem

borris-bear
Not applicable

Getting a problem with Symantec Backup Exec 12 whereby it has suddenly decided that it can only fit 300GB of data on an LTO ultrium 3 tape whereas before it was happily doing 550GB. It starts the job and after about 300Gb ejects the tape and asks for another tape to continue the job.

I have tried cleaning the drive, a brand new tape and re-creating the job from scratch but still get the same issue. Cant be a compression issus as the tapes should be 400GB uncompressed.

Anyone come across this before or got any ideas?

7 REPLIES 7

RahulG
Level 6
Employee

Updating the Drivers should take care of it . Downalod and install the latest symantec drivers . Make sure the Removable storage service is disabled

sksujeet
Level 6
Partner Accredited Certified

It could be your tape drive not behaving properly, try to write on different tapes and if you still have the same issue then run the diagnostic utility from the hardware vendor for the drive to see if everything is good.

I had the similar issue where the tape drive had to be replaced.

teiva-boy
Level 6

Try a long erase of the tape in Backup Exec, or more preferred, see if your drive manufacturer has a tape erase utility.  Perhaps there is some underlying data on the tape, even if new I've seen that happen

pkh
Moderator
Moderator
   VIP    Certified

You should check the type of data that is being backed up to your tape.  It could be that someone has stored some zipped or AV files on your server.  Have a read of my article for some explanation on compression

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/compression-short-explanation

riva11
Level 6

@pkh , thanks for your article, really informative to understanding compression on backuup jobs.

Kashif_ali
Level 3

Hi borris-bear ,

Try to keep Harware level compression in the backup setup tab.  If your hardware support definetely it will compress to the raito of 1:1.  But most of the drive wont support that much of compression.  Try for luck

 

S.Kashif.Ali

pkh
Moderator
Moderator
   VIP    Certified

If your hardware support definetely it will compress to the raito of 1:1

This is not true.  Depending on the data, the compression ratio can be higher.