backup method

[Cable_Links]

Running Backup Exec 2014 on Server 2008 Standard R2

I have my backup exec configured to backup to an external usb drive which i swap out on a daily basis with another external usb drive.  I am constantly having issues with Backup exec not recognizing the hard drives or showing offline.  Is this a method you DONT recommend?  Should the same USB drive be plugged in at all times and not swapped out?

[pkh]

1) Are the USB drives plugged into the media server?  If not, then BE will not get any notification of its status and would thus be unable to know whether it is online or offline.  You can run an inventory of the disks before the start of the backup job so that they are properly recognised.

2) There is no restriction on how often you swap your disks.  However, you should keep the entire backup chain on one disk so that restores would be easier.  If the chain is split amongst the disks, then all the disks have to be online before you can do a restore.

[Cable_Links]

The USB drives are plugged directly into the server but only one at a time.  So we will plug one in then it runs a FULL backup that night then the next morning we will remove it and put in the other usb drive and just keep swapping back and forth each day.  Do we have to run an inventory each time we swap the drives?

[pkh]

When you plug in the USB drives, does Windows recognised that they are online? If so, by right, BE should also put them online because it will get notified by Windows. If not, then run inventory after you plug in the drives. If they are not put online after they are plugged in, then it is a Windows problem and you need to sort it out first

[Cable_Links]

Yes Windows always recognizes the drives but once in a while Backup Exec does we dont realize until the backup has failed.  Could it be the brand of drives (Seagate) is there a certain brand or usb device that you know would work well in this type of setup?

[pkh]

There is no preferred brand which will work always.  Something could have interfered with the notification process which prevents BE from knowing that the device is online.  You either confirm that it is online manually or do/schedule an inventory of the disk after pluggin it in.

[Colin_Weaver]

When BE does not detect the USB disk, is there another symptom present where the USB disk itself does not receive a drive letter from the operating system?

We believe that the OS drive insert notification only occurs as part of the process to provide a drive letter, hence no drive letter = no insert notification and then BE will not know the drive is attached. Note this point is based on a couple of customers mentioning the same behaviour, the concept has not been checked with Microsoft to confirm the Operating System drive insert trigger