General backup media question

[luwy]

I am somewhat new to tape backups, I am using HP Travan TR4 8GB tapes. I am getting a "physical end of tape" error in Backup Exec and I am wondering if my tapes need replaced, they are less than 7 months old, I have one tape for Monday & Wednesday, one tape for Tuesday & Thursday, and one tape for Friday. I have software set to overwrite media. Do these tapes only go so far? Why else would I get this error?

ANy help much appreciated,

Luwy

 

[Zelandakh]

Two options, either you've got too much data to fit on the tape for the overwrite job, or you are doing an append and have run out of tape.

Check it is overwriting not appending. It you've used the tapes for 7 months and are using them once a week they need replacing.

 

[luwy]

Checked and software is set to overwrite, not append. I will check to see exactly how much data is being backup up. How often do you suggest replacing tapes?

Luwy

 

[Zelandakh]

Would you trust your only backup to a really old tape? I know some companies who use a new tape every time and ship them off site for ever and a day. But they have money to burn.

I used to change my DATs after about 20 uses, DLTs last longer so about 30 to 40 uses. If you use the retension option in BE you can probably go longer.

What happens if someone deletes a file and doesn't notice for a couple of days?

Given the price of DAT tapes, buy a box of 10 and run the for a 2 week cycle (Monday 1, Tuesday 1... Thursday 2 and Friday 2). Then you can restore any file corrupted or deleted for 2 weeks. Also, make sure you store your tapes off site when not in use. Tapes left next to the server don't survive a fire that kills the server...