My LTO2 Tapes only backup 100GB of data.

[DKDKlos]

Probably about a week ago, my LTO2 200GB tapes were wokring fine. They were backing up 90GB+ of data and based on the graphic, they were only half full. Now for some reason they show as if they were almost full and they backup the same amopunt of data.

I'm ont sure why this is happening. I've been using the same tapes and I havent made any changes to my backup job. A couple times last week when my data went over 100GB, my tapes were ejected becuase there wasnt enough space ... why is this happening?

I ran the cleaning tape because the light came on and I thought it was goign to fix it, but it didnt. Please help. I have over 30 tapes and everyone of them seems to be doing the same, not sure what's wrong.

Thank you.

[Sush---]

Hello there,

   Ensure that the latest drivers are installed for the Tape drive (needs Symantec drivers).

Also ensure that the tape drive firmware is also updated to the latest.

For how long have you been using those tapes? There is also a possibility that after long usage the performance of the tape and the tape drive will degrade which will also cause this problem.

Thanks,

-Sush...

[DKDKlos]

I checked but I already have the Symantec dirvers. I'm giong to install the drivers that Windows Update is giving me. Apparently, there is one that I did not see before. I need to reboot my server after that and see what happens.

[Larry_Fine]

I suspect your tape drive has a clogged head.  I suggest running vendor diagnostics and working with your vendor/manufacturer.

Try cleaning the drive multiple times.  See more at http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH193200

[CraigV]

LTO2 are notorious for failing more than other versions. Check the tape under the Media tab, and see if there are any excessive Hard Write Errors.

If you have a new tape, you can also try running the backup to this to see if there is any improvement.

Failing that, get hold ofyour drive manufacturer's diagnostic tape drive utility and see if there is a compression test you can run against a tape. HP has HP LTT for instance.

Thanks!

[pkh]

Movie files are already compress, so you should not be using either software or hardware compression when backing them up.  Otherwise, you would end up with more data than the original.  See my article

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

That said, I think there is something wrong with your tape drive and you are getting a lot of errors.  These errors may cause the drive to skip certain portions of the tape, thus reducing capacity.  Run the manufacturer's utility against the tape drive.  Make sure that you stopped all the BE services beforehand and select the write test.

[DKDKlos]

Here is a screenshot of last nights backup.

[Larry_Fine]

Your "data" is less than your "used capacity".  I see two possibilities:

1) Compression is enabled, but your data doesn't compress and is actually expanding.  solution: turn off compression.

2) Your drive is bad or has a clogged head.  Solution: Clean the drive multiple times and run the vendor diagnostic tool. http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH193200

[DKDKlos]

Well, I installed new drivers and the tape still does the same. I also downloaded the HP Tape Tools and it tells me that my drive is not supported. I also cleaned it multiple times.

I have an HP StorageWorks Ultrium 448 SCSI tape.

[CraigV]

...stop your BE services. HP LTT definitely does support the LTO2 drives as I have used it on them before.

[DKDKlos]

Ok. I managed to run a couple tests on the tape drive. however, it does not tell me anything about a clogged head on my tape drive. Or perhaps, I didnt run the right test?

[Larry_Fine]

Does it do a capacity test?

[CraigV]

Check the links below. These are some of the tests you should be doing:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=125&prodSeriesId=...

...look at doing the compression test (it needs a blank tape!), and then check the *.pdf on HP LTT below:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/CoreRedirect.jsp?redirectReason=DocIndexPDF&prodSer...

THanks!

[DKDKlos]

I'm goign to get a new blank tape and also a brand new clenign tape and then run the tests. I ran the tests with the equipment that I have but the result still the same.

[DKDKlos]

Ok. I got the new and the problem still the same. One thing that I noticed is that everytime that I run any tape it always comes out with a lot of dust. I cant even run a regular job because as soon as it spins, it asks for a cleaning tape .. so I need to eject the tape, wihch takes a lot of tries, and then run the brand new cleaning tape.

Can I just open the tape drive and clean all the dust if that's the problem?

[Sush---]

Well if you have previous experience with it then of course you can. Also opening the tape drive may void the warranty of it.
So I would receommend asking your hardware vendor to take a look at it in deeper sense.

Thanks,

-Sush...

[Larry_Fine]

If the drive is that dusty, then I would assume you have multiple clogged tape heads.  Consulte your vendor/manufacturere for cleaning and service.

[DKDKlos · Accepted solution]

I contacted HP business technical support and they ran a few tests, they said the heads on my tape drive might be bad. Plus, some of my services were conflicting with Backup Exec and it was creating some major overhead with the data communications between the tape drive and the backup jobs.

[Sush---]

Hello,

    I remember one of the service which use to conflict was HP Management Tool service (dont remember the exact name). And its recommended that that service is stopped and disabled.

Are there any other services which HP support has informed you about...??

Thanks,

-Sush...