Backup job won't append to the tape?

[arcservetherapy]

Hi, why won't my backup job append to my tape?

The tape has been ERASED and moved to a media set that has an overwrite protection period of None, and and an Infinite append period. yet still the tape shows up as having an append time of None. What am I doing wrong. We are looking to move away from Arcserve to Backup Exec but if I can't sort this out then I'll have to say with Arcserve.

I have seen other answers which state that the tape is FULL but if I ERASE the tape should this not wipe the slate clean ?

 

[Qdog]

Ok, you erased the tape...think about it.....where is it going to append to? Append jobs APPEND data to the tape after the end-marker that appears on the tape from the last backup written to that tape. So if you erased it, no previous data and end marker exists.

Try a backup job type of 'Append-Overwrite if no appendable media found'. That way, if it cannot find a tape to append data to, it will switch to an overwrite job and start writing from the beginning of your erased tape.

 

[arcservetherapy]

Yes but..
I even if the job is set to overwrite the tape - my job fails. This only hapens on CERTAIN tapes. When I look in the Media tab (all media) the 'Append Time Left' is None but only on certain media. Even if I create a custom media set - these same tapes retain the Append Time Left of None. I have tried erasing and renaming the tapes but still I can't get any info written to them.
My only solution so far has been to buy another tape.

 

[Adm793]

I am having this same problem, After erasing a tape, I can no longer append to it. It doesn't matter if I select overwrite. It still will not append to the tape. The tape shows up fine under the devices tab, but under the media tab it shows as "none" append time left. Has anyone heard of a solution for this.

 

[dogmata]

Can you rename the label/give it a new label > drag it into scratch media, and then try a Backup, does that do anything ?

Dog

 

[technome]

Possible you have corruption in the media set file, Delete the media set(s) (when I had it, I deleted all media sets) within Backup Exec, recreate them. Erase the tapes giving you the problem before using them

 

[Adm793]

I have previously tried the relabeling of the media and nothing. I also gave Technome's suggestion a try and still no append time left on the tapes. When I run a report on the current media, it shows that the problem tapes only have a few megs written to them. Thes are 100 gig/ 200 gig compressed LTO tapes. I have also tried to set everthing (backup job, media set properties, ect.) to overwrite, and even placing the tape into scratch media. Nothing. This problem is occuring when the tapes reach thier capacity, if I don't erase the tape before they hit thier limits this is the problem I am left with.

 

[Adm793]

Found the solution after a few emails with Veritas. At least this worksin my particular case. When the Tapes reach the full state and cannot be appended to anymore, perform a full erase, the tape will then default to the scratch media set, leave the tape in there and change the backup properties to overwrite. This should automatically overwrite any tapes in the scratch media. Hope this helps.

This is what Veriats had to say:

"As you have mentioned that you have a performed a LONG Erase on the tapes,
therefore the tapes will be moved to the SCRATCH media set after the erase
operation is complete. The APPEND period will be shown as NONE on any tape
which belongs to the SCRATCH media set.

A particular tape can be overwritten only when
1) The overwrite protection period on the tape is set to none.
2) The tape belongs to SCRATCH Media set.

We would request you to run you a OVERWRITE backup job on the particular
media on which a LONG erase has been performed. Make sure that you select
the 'FULL BACKUP' media set in the properties of the backup job.

After selecting the media set the tape will be automatically be a part of
the FULL BACKUP media set. Verify the APPEND period on the tape after the
backup is complete.

If the APPEND period is shown as INFINITE then perform the same procedure
on the other tapes also."