Can't get it to overwrite

[bolasete]

i simply cannot get backup exec to overwrite older backups when it runs out of unused tape.

once the tape runs out of space, it simply quits, never going back and overwriting older data on the data. i can't figure out why.

all the tapes are part of a single media set which has an overwrite protection of 6 days and a infinite append length. each tape is used once a week so that on the day it is put in the drive to be used, it's overwrite period shows as none - the 6 days have passed.

despite this, if a backup goes over the full amount of blank space on the tape, old data is never overwritten.

the overall overwrite protection i have chosen was the one recommended during setup - overwrite if no appendable media is available. running out of blank space on a tape would seem to be that situation. any idea what i'm doing wrong? i know it's me i'm just perplexed at this point.

the last thing i'll mention because it seems like it is significant is the way in which the jobs fail. the media is ejected and when i open up back-up exec the next time i immediately can an alert box asking me to insert appendable media as "no appendable media could be found"

 

[Lisette]

There should be a fix on the actual error message, if you start looking around the site for mount errors you should find this. We have a similar problem at times here. I have found if I put that affected tape in , erase the data completely and relabel it , it will work fine for me the next time.

Check the veritas site and ensure you have caught up with all patches on your veritas version also.

Hope this helps you out. We have noticed a significant reduction in our backup failures since implementing this fix. It is annoying that we still miss some.

 

[blonde]

The overwrite protection period is measured from the last time data was appended to the media.

For example, setting the Overwrite Protection Period for
seven days and the Append Period for four days ensures that data will not be overwritten for at least seven days, and that data can be appended to the media for the next four days. The last data appended to this media is retained for seven days.Because of the method Backup Exec uses to compute time, the unit of time that you enter may be converted. For example, if you enter 14 days, the next time you view this property, it is displayed as 2 weeks.

I found this is the help section of backupexe. So basically it is saying that the overwrite protection starts over after every append that you do. the tape will have to wait for the 6 days, after the last append to be able to be overwritten.
Does this help you ?
blonde

 

[bolasete]

actually. the overwrite protection period is set to only 6 days. i use the tapes every seven and when i put them in and run an inventory and check their stats in the devices screen it shows the overwrite period as having expired. ("none&quot

so it seems like when they run out of space they should overwrite old data.

as far as the first suggestion of erasing and relabeling the media i'm skeptical of this because i'm having this problem with all 5 tapes once they fill, not one or two. so it seems like i must have something configured wrong - just not sure what.

 

[blonde]

In the help screen for Veritas, it says: The overwrite protection period is measured from the last time data was appended to the media. So if the tape gets appended to, the 6 days of overwrite protection starts again when it is appended to. and you have that set to infinite, so it will be appended to until the end. and held on for 6 days after that. I wonder if you go in to the media properties, and put the overwrite as 6 days. and the append as 0 hours. ?
then after the tape is written on the first day, it should not be able to be overwritten for 6 days. and with 0 appends should not be able to be appended to. then when it comes up again on the day you want it to be overwritten it should work. Please do a test on this and see if it works. I think the change you need to make is to the append. Blonde