BESR 7.0 Server Edition and Dell RD1000 Removable Disks

[rgmckenz]

Is there anyone out there using Backup Exec System Recovery Server Edition v7.0 with Dell RD1000 removable SATA drives?  I initial thought that this would be a perfect marriage of removable storage and image backups, but after reading a technote about Iomega REV drives, I doubt that it will work the way I'd like.  I would like to backup up a total of three images per media, before automatically replacing the oldest set based on retention, while rotating meda each night to an offsite location.

The technote concerning REV states that because the OS considers REV removable media, it is not able to be used in scheduled backups - only manual.  Is this true of the RD1000 as well?  I know it is considered removable media.  Can it be used as folder storage for BESR for scheduled backups?

Roy M.

[Bill_Felt]

Hello,

I did a little research on the Dell RD1000, and it appears to provide a removable interface for SATA drives.  I am highly confident this will work with BESR 7.0 without any problems.  The drives should show up as local drives.

The REV drive issue sounds like a situation where the REV drive appears to a a removable (optical) type of drive.  BESR doesn't like to use optical devices as targets for backup jobs, since manual media swapping is needed.

I don't think the Dell RD1000 would fall into that category though.  Shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks.

[Dan_Neuwirth]

RD1000's don't (in my experience) work that well with BESR.  BESR's service "locks" the drive, and you cannot "eject" a cartridge while the BESR service is running.  Stopping the service permits ejection.

This is a HUGE problem for anyone wanting to run BESR and have offsite bare-metal capable recovery points in convenient form.

I have spent all day on the phone today with Dell's Enterprise support (PowerEdge 2900 server, with Dell-shipped RD1000 drive and BESR 7.0 SBS Edition) and no one has been able to give any answers. 

As far as I'm concerned, BESR is VERY problematic with RD1000's and fails our initial compatibility testing.

Someone over at SYMC needs to get one of these drives in and test with it--especially when you're dealing with rotations which require cartridge swap and removals.

-Dan