All tapes appear as cleaning media

[Rols]

Hi Guys,

Has anyone seen a problem where by Backup Exec scans the barcode labels of the tapes in the library (does not load the tapes into the drive to read the tape label ie: inventory) and reports them as cleaning tapes??

 

[SQLBill]

Nope, but there is a check box that lets you identify a tape as a cleaning tape. It might be checked for all your tapes. Go to devices tab, expand the SLOTs, right click on a slot and select properties. I believe that's where the checkbox is located. Check those. Then if it's not that, inventory the tapes. That should clear up the issue.

-SQLBill

 

[Rols]

Worked it out.... Thanks anyway SQL bill

For those interested:

It was a SCSI ID configuration problem - The drives in an autoloader must appear in target order.

http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/190522.htm

Rols

 

[rstumbaugh]

SQL Bill,

you helped me. I had a cleaning tape that was showing up as unknown media, so I checked the properties, put a check in the box you spoke of and now I can run the cleaning job. It completed in 4 seconds though, is that normal?

 

[SQLBill]

rstumbaugh,

Yes. I've seen some of mine go that quick and others that took quite a while.

How long had your drive been in use before you cleaned it? Did you clear the stats (on the Cleaning tab) before you ran the cleaning tape?

-SQLBill

 

[rstumbaugh]

After I put that post up, I took a look again at some things. I noticed that we hadn't had a successful cleaning in over a week. I also noticed that the last cleaning lasted over 5 minutes and that seemed to be the average time for any previous cleanings. The drive has been in use since beofre I came here to work. This is new to me, I never had to work with backups before, so I'm learning as I go and I've only been here since May. I can right click on the tape in the slots and see the statistics, but I don't see where you can clear the stats. I am using version 8.6

 

[SQLBill]

If you are using an autoloader, you don't want to clear the stats manually anyways.

How many times has the cleaning tape been used? It might be time for a new tape.

-SQLBill

 

[rstumbaugh]

I already changed the tape, but no difference.

 

[SQLBill]

You say you checked the cleaning slot box for the tape. Did you inventory the slot? Does it show Cleaning Tape as the label for the tape?

Do you use barcodes on your tapes? Does the cleaning tape have a barcode?

I have an autoloader and I don't check the Cleaning Slot. I use barcodes on all my tapes (even the cleaning tapes) and when I inventory the tapes, my cleaning tapes are identified as Cleaning Tape.

-SQLBill

 

[rstumbaugh]

We're using an HP Surestore DAT24x6. Yes, it does now show cleaning tape after I manually checked the cleaning media box under the slot properties. No, we use labels, but they're from a label maker. Normally, it appears as cleaning media, but for some reason this time it didn't.