testing BE 2010 R3 trial on w2k8 R2 (x64), tape compression low

[6ft_under]

Hello,

We are testing the trial of Backup Exec 2010 R3 on our primary domain controller running Windows 2008 R2 equipped with HP DAT 320 (internal USB) tapedrive. I have just discovered that I can't fit the usual size of data onto our 160/320GB tape with BE2010 ... the compression ratio is very low, around 1.1:1 and backup task asks for another tape...

We use it for last night backup only (everyday, no rotation), mostly for having a fresh backup of server system files along with Active Directory and SQL instances ... production files are replicated to other w2k8 servers and NAS so need to backup everything to this tape.

Is there any known problem with BE 2010 R3 inefficiently using media compression on HP DAT 320 tapedrives?

asking because before we used a software whcih came with tapedrive, it was HP Data Protector Express 5.0 Basic and I was able to fit much more information to the same 160/320GB media when using that software, now I can't seem to be able to achieve that with BE 2010 R3 ...

lastly, is there any way the Symantec BE 2012 beta/trial becomes public anytime soon? I signed up a while ago for it, but it seems so far it is released only to partners and people with current maintenance plans on BE software - we don't have it, we are considering a switch to Symantec for our backup needs ...

Thanks.

[6ft_under]

really, a one-time compression event only? 1.1:1 on first recorded tape and then it stays disabled in device driver settings (and cannot be changed until server gets restarted and sometimes driver re-installed). LOL!

right after the first job, the Compression Enabled boolean stays false permamently in driver settings (was enabled before the first run) and never happens again ... as I mentioned, I don't have such problem with HP DPX 5.0 that's why I have no other choice as stick to it ... please, don't tell me SYmantec works right, because it DOES NOT. seems it can't cooperate properly with USB drivers for HP DAT 320, the sole reason why I no longer use it (uninstalled, sorry).

[6ft_under]

OK, just a quick update proving that something is up between HP DPX 5.0 vs BE2012 R3 software epr the selected backup count or the actual compression.

I have switched back to HP DPX 5.0 (now having a full license also covering SQL instances backup) software and again the same (!) selection of backup is going through without trouble with plenty of free space left on the tape.

now, how is this possible? compression issue? I would really like to know what the problem was...

not sure, but I remember that Symantec BE2012 R3 was reporting around 220GB of data for backup upon (same) selection and it was resulting in full tape at compression disabled 1:1 or comrpession at 1.1:1 (only at first run, then staying disabled for every other run).

Now with HP DPX 5.0, the exact same selection of SQL instances, System State and file folders, I see that only 117GB was actually written to the 160/320GB media ... unfortunately HP DPX 5.0 doesn't show the data tape actual compression ratio, but clearly things are different.

BE2012R3 was trying to write 220GB (after unchecking some folders I was able to lower it to 175GB and it was still too much, but that's not the point) while HP DPX 5.0 (selected everything, just when I did in BE2012R3 which resulted in 220GB count) writes 117GB... all things are supposedly exactly same per selection. what's up???