tape ejecting before backup complete

[Techgirl01]

Hello,

I am using Backup Exec 2010 and a PowerVault LTO-3-060 half-height tape drive with 400GB/800GB tapes and just recently my full Friday backups are not completing before the tape kicks out, therefore having to put in another tape on Monday morning for my backup to complete. I beleive that I am running out of space on my tapes??? What is going to be my easiest solution to resolve this... Should I split my full backups in half ? How can I determine if my backups are being compressed... ? Please advise and thank you in advance

[AmolB]

Most important thing to check is the amount of data that has been selected for backups.

To check the compression, go to the Device tab -> highlight the tape-> on the right side of the screen

you will find the compression ratio. 

[Gregmfg]

Splitting them in half does not really solve your problem.  Check the ratio and see what kind of compression you are getting. 

[Techgirl01]

Ok but if my compression ratio is where it needs to be and I am running out of space on my tapes then what other choice do I have besides splitting them in half... I mean I am backing up 12 servers

[Ken_Putnam]

Assuming you are getting any compression at all, if you are running out of room on one tape, you basically have two choices

1)   Get a drive with a larger capacity (You would need to either keep the old drive around for restores or get a new drive that will at least read LTO-3 tapes)

2)   Get a small library/loader.  To save a little, you could even place you current LTO-3 drive into it.

[pkh]

You can also consider buying an external disk with lots of space and backup to that.  If necessary, then duplicate that backup to tape.  The duplicate job will not impact your working servers so it can be done durin g office hours.  Before you buy any disk, do check out the HCL to make sure that it is supported for B2D.