BESR 2010 - Wont Backup D and H Partition

[RichardStop]

Good afternoon,

We recently purchased a new Dell PowerEdge R610 server with 6 - 143 gig drives in Raid.

The server came with the array already created.

We then created 3 partitions using the WIndows Server 08 R2 installation disk.

C: - 60 gigs

D: - 100gigs

H: - 520 gigs

We then installed Symantec SR 2010 to backup what will be the new domain controler. When attempting to backup, the D and H drives show 1%, calculating drive space, and then the backup never progresses past that point. We need to stop the service to kill the process. C backs up okay.

I have opened a ticket with Symantec, who tell me the Dell partition is at fault, and are not very helpful troubleshooting the issue and dont offer any solution or work around other than "rebuild the partition" (which I have no interest in doing by the same mehtod, assuming I may get the same result.).

I have opened a Dell ticket as well trying to repair what Symantec has called "a partition with incorrect geometry". And they say the partitions are fine, and the software is the issue.

I have run PartInfo.exe from the symantec utilities, and the results are attached.

I have attempted shrinking the partition by 5 megs trying to reset the "CHS end" and have had the same errors as a result. Should I try shirnking by a larger amount?

I am unsure how to proceed. What I need to know is, if this is in fact an issue with the Dell partition, how do I quantify that outside of the symantec app to prove it is not the software?

I have been very disapppointed by the support from Symantec who offer no solutions or work arounds. Dell is willing to conference Symantec but I have gotten no reply in my request to them to work with myself and dell on this issue.

HELP?!??!?!

Thanks in advance for any responses.

[CraigV]

Hi,

The thing is that if the issue lies outside of Backup Exec, then Symantec aren't obliged to offer any support as it falls outside their realm. It's like a Microsoft Windows engineer offering to help your with your SAN storage...2 different companies, 2 different types of support.

Stop the BE services just to be safe and then open up the Windows Backup Utility and try backing up a fair amount of data on both those drives. You can only back up to disk, but this will give you an indication of where the issue lies. If it succeeds, then it possibly lies with Symantec. If it fails, then the issue is definitely a Dell issue unless Windows has been installed incorrectly!

If you're using that ability of Backup Exec's to show you the status of the backup, turn that off. It does cause some issues, and tech support normally always tells you to turn it off.

Thanks!

[RichardStop]

Thanks for the reply Craig.

They did not suggest disabling backup status. It has now been "hidden".

Is there a check box to disable it from showing up in the future? I did not see that option. I am attempting to do file and folder backups now, over 24 hours to back up <80 gigs, so this method will not work.

I was able to do windows backups of both drives with no issue.

I understand Symantec would not want to work on an issue with my Dell hardware, however, we need to establish in a non symantec application that the drives geometry is in fact incorrect for Dell to address the issue, which I have thur far been unable to do.