Ultrium 100/200 backup problem

[davidwilson11]

Hi there,

I am having a problem with Veritas v9.1, i have an HP ultirium that should backup 100/200Gb of data.

When my backup reaches around 80Gb it asks for another tape. I have the job settings as follows:

Tape is set to overwrite media.
Hardware compression otherwise none.

I have tried a long format of the tapes and still the results are the same.

Could anyone offer any pointers on this.

 

[SQLBill]

Do a search on this forum for compression....there's lots of posts about this issue. What you are seeing is normal. Tape size is an ESTIMATE.

-SQLBill

Posting advice: FAQ481-4875

 

[davidwilson11]

SQLbill

Thanks for the reply.

I had a browse through the threads and didnt come up with anything conclusive. Could you help point me in the right direction.

Why would the tape size be an ESTIMATE. surely i would be able to backup more than 100gb with this drive type.

Cheers
David

 

[steveot]

I wouldnt say thats normal. It Should reach the 100gig mark no matter what. 100 gigs uncompressed data by the drive. So it it reached 105 gigs and kicked out the tape then that is normal. My guess it on a large file or volume at the 80gig mark and then the job is cancelled so you only see 80 gigs on tape. I would goto tool-option-job logs and turn on detailed logging. Run the job again and insert the second tape when prompted. The job log will tell you at what point the tape switch.

Make sure you have the latest veritas drivers installed. Latest firmware for tape device. Latest SCSI drivers. Download the HP tools to ensure the compression is working correctly in the firmware. Make sure your using the correct tapes.

 

[davidwilson11]

SQLbill

i was just about to setup the HP tools to test the drive.

Would the firmware really cause the backup to under perform to such a high degree.

Maybe, i will keep you posted on my progress.

Thanks

 

[steveot]

Its possible for some reason the compression may not be optimal. Different drive/firmware you can toggele the compression on/off and level. The HP tools also have a compression test

 

[davidwilson11]

Guys,

I had checked the firmware which was not needing updated,

however i have run the HP tools and it came back with more than one result saying the drive was faulty.

repeated the tests and still the same.

HP are swapping out the drive.

Thanks

will keep you updated.
Dave