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new cleaning tape - Backup Exec still thinks it's the old tape

rpatty
Level 4

My old cleaning tape expired. I removed it and inserted a new cleaning tape. Backup Exec seems to think the old tape is still in the slot. It still shows the old allocated date (March), still shows it's been used 50 times, etc. If I try to run a cleaning job it says "job failed with error: expired cleaning media."

1) I've tried to scan the slot, but that doesn't work.

2) I've seen advice saying "mark the slot as NOT cleaning media and run an inventory." However, when I mark it as not cleaning media, the option to inventory is still greyed out.

Any suggestions?

9 REPLIES 9

lmosla
Level 6

Hi rpatty,

Make sure your tape drive is using Symantec drivers and power cycle the tape drive: 

1. Power Off the Server
2. Power off the Tape Drive
3. Power on the Tape Drive to a 'Ready' State
4. Power on the Server

hope this helps

pkh
Moderator
Moderator
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Are you using barcode labels on your cleaning tape? If so, are you reusing the label?

rpatty
Level 4

I'm trying the power cycle now.

I checked the drivers, and they are Symantec's. I note the driver date is 2008, which seems old. Should there be a newer version of the driver, or does that seem right?

rpatty
Level 4

No barcodes, no label reuse.

rpatty
Level 4

Power cycle did not seem to help. Still thought it was the old media, even after a scan. And even after flagging the slot as NOT cleaning media, it still thought the tape itself was cleaning media, and the inventory option was greyed out with "cleaning media cannot be inventoried."

I *have* found one workaround: if I move the tape to a new slot BKE suddenly realizes it's unknown media, and then I can flag the new slot as cleaning media and it realizes there's a new tape inside. That seems really awkward and impractical, though, and I can't think it's the proper fix.

lmosla
Level 6

What type of tape library is this?  Can you run an inventory on the whole tape drive (not just the slot) ?

rpatty
Level 4

It's a Dell 124T. Based on the tooltips in the software, I could run an inventory on the top level of the slots, but not on the item labeled Tape Drive. I think that amounts to more or less the same thing, it should try to inventory all tapes in all slots.

I'd try it, but with the above workaround (moving tapes to a new slot and then rescanning) I don't have any unidentified cleaning tapes at the moment to test. I may have to wait until the next time I put in new cleaning tapes to see if that works. 

pkh
Moderator
Moderator
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You might want to look at using barcode labels which will prevent problems like this from happening. You just use a different barcode label for your new clearing tape and BE will know that it is different from the old cleaning tape. See my article below https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/using-barcode-labels-why-and-how

DCA_Lightstat
Not applicable

open Storage

select cleaning slot

get properties (right-click - select Details)

select slots (left -pane last selection)

click Slot Details (upper right)

select Properties - click drop down control that 'preserves media label' and set to not - this should fix the issue

 

(They need to fix this...)