Physical End of Tape Reached

[timwkao]

Hey,

I don't see the post that was called that ^^^ anymore, so I thought I would start this one.

We have Backup Exec ver 8.6 on Windows 2000 Server SP4. Just recently, the backups are failing, with the job log saying "Physical End of Tape Reached".

Now, we have 20 GB tapes, and 20 GB of data is written, according to statistics, only every time we backup, we backup maybe 4 GB. And, there is no overwrite protection, and, we have the job set to overwrite old data (it even says "Overwriting" in the job log).

So, does anyone know why it would be saying this. It's as if it is stuck in append or something, even though we have it set to overwrite.

I am so confused, any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks

 

[Prydonian]

I believe that even if it is set to overwrite, it depends on what the retention is set to for the tape. If overwrite protection on the tape characteristics is set to infinite, it will just keep appending until the tape is full. Check this under the media tab.

Try erasing the tape (running label media will erase it as well) or pulling it into scratch media and seeing what happens.

Mike

 

[SQLBill]

When you do a backup, the backup includes header information. So backing up 4 GB of data might actually create a slightly larger backup.

When you append jobs to a tape, you can't guarantee that the final backup on the tape will end before or at the end of the tape.

So, most likely, you are getting to the end of the tape and there is still more to be backed up. It can not be put on the beginning of the tape. Instead you need a second tape to continue the backup job onto.

Also, remember a tape that says it holds XX amount of data (ex. 20 GB) is only a manufacturer's estimate.

-SQLBill

Posting advice: FAQ481-4875

 

[timwkao]

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

P - I did turn off overwrite protection when I first saw this issue a few weeks ago. And we did try to erase the tape

S - Thanks for the info - We are trying to have it just overwrite the tape each time, and if it was really overwriting, it would write from the beginning of the tape each time right?

I will double check the settings (this is at a client location, and I only ever head out there once every couple weeks or so) and get back to you guys.

Thanks again!

Tim

 

[SQLBill]

If you set it to overwrite everytime and not to append, then yes it will overwrite the whole tape.

-SQLBill

Posting advice: FAQ481-4875

 

[JimKarn]

We are running Backup Exec 8.6 on a Windows 2000 server also, and we get an error that says "Physical end of tape encountered". I need four tapes to back up our system, 125 meter DDS-3, 12/24 GB tapes. I have backed up the system for over a year now with no problems, and it suddenly began giving me this error message. It started by giving the message on the third tape, but now it comes up at the end of the first tape and won't bridge to the second tape. The log shows that the tape is getting information on it.
Daily backups work fine. I have tried renaming all the tapes, erasing them, and tried using new tapes, but nothing works. Overwrite is set. We run a Seagate DAT tape drive, maybe a little over a year old. Any ideas? Thanks for any help you can give us.

 

[timwkao]

Hey Jim,

I have still not been able to resolve the issue. If we get new tapes, it will work for a little while (a couple backups), but then it will just shoot us the same error message again. It's as if it is appending even though the job log and the job indicate it is set to overwrite.

I have tried just about everything I can think of. I think we might actually upgrade to a newer version just so we can get some phone support on this issue.

Tim