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Multiple B2D folders on one drive

itssm
Level 3
Hi
I'm changing from Tape to Removable Disk for backups.

I setup a backup to disk folder on my external drive. I then wanted to create a second backup to disk folder on this drive but I get this message

"Cannot create the Backup-to-Disk Folder in the path specified because another Backup-to-Disk Folder is already using that path"

Is it not possible to configure more than one folder on the same drive as ideally I'd like to create Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday folders on this particular drive so that I have a full backup for each day in its correct folder. The weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly backups will have their own drives also.

Can anyone advise please? Any help much appreciated.
1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

Ken_Putnam
Level 6
If you are trying to create a removeable B2D folder, this would be the expected behavior, since the folder is create at the root of the drive.

iI you were using standard B2D, then you could set them one level down (or more)

J: B2D Folders\Monday Fodler
J: B2D FOlders\Tuesday Folder
    

View solution in original post

16 REPLIES 16

ZeRoC00L
Level 6
Partner Accredited
Are you sure you are typing another name for the backup to disk Folder and also point to a "new" empty folder on your external drive?

sksujeet
Level 6
Partner Accredited Certified

Ken_Putnam
Level 6
If you are trying to create a removeable B2D folder, this would be the expected behavior, since the folder is create at the root of the drive.

iI you were using standard B2D, then you could set them one level down (or more)

J: B2D Folders\Monday Fodler
J: B2D FOlders\Tuesday Folder
    

itssm
Level 3
Thanks for your replies

So is it not possible to do this on a removable drive?

At the moment it simply points to J: and will not let me set the folder down a level.

Is there a best practice for getting around this?

Ken_Putnam
Level 6
Is there a best practice for getting around this?

There really is no reason to create different folders for different jobs.  As long as you manage your media sets properly, every thing can write to the same Removable B2D device

itssm
Level 3

The MD wants to take the drives offsite so I need multiple devices i.e. one for Monday and Wednesday, one for Tuesday and Thursday then one each for Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly.

Does this sound a feasible strategy? We've been using tapes but the backup now exceeds the tape.

sksujeet
Level 6
Partner Accredited Certified
Yes in that case you have to use removable drive for Monday to Thursday and so forth.
Or you can run a backup from monday to thursday on the same drive and weekly and monthly on different drive and keep the rotation period in such a way that they don't overwrite the data.

Ken_Putnam
Level 6

The MD wants to take the drives offsite so I need multiple devices i.e. one for Monday and Wednesday, one for Tuesday and Thursday then one each for Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly.

Well, BackupExec was never designed to accept multiple physical devices on the same driver letter (B2D Device)  That will change, probably with the next release

The way it is currently designed, you must mount each physical device on the same (different) drive letter each time it is mounted     (Some have reported no problems connecting multiple physical drives but it is completely unsupported by Symantec at this time

itssm
Level 3
Thanks for the replies. As I suspected when I initially started this thread it looks like a 6 disk system as follows.

Disk 1 - Monday and Wednesday. Taken offsite on Tuesday and Thursday
Disk 2 - Tuesday and Thursday. Taken offsite on Wednesday and Friday.
Disk 3 - Week 1, Week 2, Week 3. Taken offsite Monday.
Disk 4 - Month 1, Month 2, Month 3. Taken offsite Monday.
Disk 5 - Quarter 1, Quarter 2, Quarter 3. Taken offsite Monday.
Disk 6 - Yearly.

All will be unplugged and reconnected to the same USB port and hopefully the drive letter will remain as J without too much intervention.

Does anyone foresee any pitfalls with the above?

Ken_Putnam
Level 6
As I said in my post above  (guess they crossed in flight)  The way it is currently written, Backup Exec expects each external device to be mounted on the same(different) drive letter each time it is mounted

Some have reported no problems mounting different physical drives to the same letter (one fellow even posted specifics about how he did it) but this is completely unsupported by Symantec at this time

There have been multiple requests to change this since B2D was introduced with v8.6.  We have been told that a new way of handling external drives will be introduced (probabaly with the next release) that wil allow you to just connect a USB/FireWire/eSATA drive, inventory it and write to it, no matter what drive lette it mounts to, but that is still in the future

itssm
Level 3

Thanks for your answer Ken. What do you mean by same(different)?

Ken_Putnam
Level 6
Sorry

They want you to always mount  (for eaample)

physical drive1 on DriveLetterG
physical drive2 on DriveLetterH

etc.

So for you to have a drive for 4 nightlies plus a weekly plus a monthly you would need 6  spare drive letters on your BackupExec media server
 

pkh
Moderator
Moderator
   VIP    Certified

BE 2010 R2 has some enhancements that eases the use of Removable B2D folder.  It now automatically recognises the drive with the Removable B3D folder regardless of the drive letter that is assigned to the drive.  You just plug in the drive and the Removable B2D folder becomes online.
 

itssm
Level 3

Looks like this is going to be too time consuming then. I was thinking as long as every time a different physical drive was added if it remained as J: for example it would work. Having each physical drive require its own specific drive letter means I'd have to logon and ensure this is happening every day.

Its a shame as I thought this would be a good solution but it seems it will make the job harder, not easier.

itssm
Level 3

Thansk for this. Unfortunately I dont think the company will want to spend another £500 on the new version.

We are currently using 11d.

Ken_Putnam
Level 6
connect each external drive, and then use Windows Drive Manager to assign whatever drive letter you want to each.  then remove all the drives and connect them one at a time.  They should  retain the letter you have assigned.

Then you can use BEMCMD to execute a "pause" on all your B2D Devices, followed by an "unpause"  and schedule it for  before each nightly job.  This should discover which device is attached and place it online, ready for jobs

If all your devices are in a pool, and it the jobs are pointed at that pool then BackupExec should write to whatever drive is connected