Colorado 5GB Update

[James Federlein]

I have an external Colorado 5 GB tape drive and am running HP Colorado Backup II software version 6.0 on a W98 computer. I have had this for quite a while and have recently encountered errors when trying to verify a backup tape. The backup proceeds without error and I have successfully restored from the backup but I get an error on some of my tapes on verify.
I understand that my backup software is no longer available. Can someone tell me (1) what backup software can I use in place of my old one, (2) should I update the software drivers for the tape drive, and (3) can this tape drive be upgraded to a larger capacity?

[CA737015]

James, I am not an exepert, but I have seen many others suggest that retentioning the tapes is "critial" for them to operate properly over time. Have you tried this? It solves a similar problem for me once.

[James Federlein]

I have tried repeated retensionings and initializings but they made no difference. From what I can tell, the backup is made on the tape. And I have successfully restored files from the tape. But when I try to verify some of the tapes, I get an error taht the tape has a problem. It is only with the verify function that I have any problems.

[CA756694]

Peter,

What firmware revision are you using on this drive ? You need to be using 2.08 as that does solve many problems do to with media detection and reading/writing.
That said, it does seem a little wierd that your backup and restore are okay but it's the verification pass that fails .... out of interest does it fail at the same point everytime ?

You do not say which OS you are going to upgrade to. At the moment there are problems with XP and external Colorado drives though.

cheers

John

[James Federlein]

I just installed the 2.08 firmware. It did not seem to have any impact on the problem.

I can't understand the fact that the problem appears to be limited to the verification step. No, it does not stop at the same point every time. This problem appeared all of a sudden and now seems to happen on every backup. I have tried to restore one file from the tape but I have not tried to restore everything, so I am not 100% sure that the entire tape is OK. Not sure how to prove that short of trying to make a complete restore (which I am reluctant to do in case the tape is bad).

I am not changing OSs. In looking for the latest software/firmware, I noticed that the Backup II program is no longer supported. So I was wondering if others are using a different program with their old 5GB tape drives. And maybe that would also cure my verification problem.

[CA756694]

Let's tackle the easier questions first.
2.08 is the latest firmware.
Although, Colorado is discontinued we still support it's use. Later versions of Colorado do feature some bug fixes over previous ones, but I will confess to not having the complete set of release notes and thus being unable to say whether your problem is present in an early version and fixed in a later one.
Later versions of Colorado Backup were powered by VERITAS and any low end product of theirs should be compatible. Check first though.


This verification problem.
You are going to need to try and restore all your data at some point and it is better to do it now, when you can fix the problem, rather than when you have a system crash.The chances are that the backup is not working properly

Try a backup/verify with a new piece of media in the drive as well.

cheers

John

[James Federlein]

What are the risks of this restore test? If the tape does have some problem, is there a chance that I will write garbage over top of my good programs and files? I would like to have a way to test and determine the problem but I am not willing to chance make a major mess of my PC.

[CA625671]

Please pardon my butting in here, however upon reading your post, JF, I recognized that it was exactly the same problem I had just recently with the 8GB Colorado drive, CBII Ver. 6.0, firmware 2.08, Win95.

Some of my cartridges, particularly several that came from the same 5-pack I purchased earlier this year, would back up properly, but would regularly exhibit an error [07-03-23-01-11C5] during the verify process.

I tried retensioning the tape 3 times, reinstalling the CBII software as well as firmware 2.08, but that did not resolve the problem.

Upon discussing this issue at length with two H-P tech support people via phone/conference call, they determined that those tapes were defective. I was advised to restore all data from them (fortunately I had adequate HD capacity), and then send the cartridges back for new replacements.

I did so and received new cartridges in 5 days. I've used 2 of those replacement tapes for backups thus far, and have not had that error during the verify process.

That said, you may have simply encountered some "bad" cartridges which need to be replaced. As long as you're still able to get a successful restore from them, and assuming you have adequate HD space, I suggest you pursue the above resolution. (You'll have to call H-P first, as they have to generate a case number for the tape replacements.)

Aside from that issue, I also suggest you upgrade the CBII software from Ver. 6.0 to Ver. 9.1. I have it installed on 2 of my units thus far and it seems to be more stable than Ver. 6.0.

Regarding upgrading your 5GB tape drive to a larger capacity, I seriously doubt that it can be done (otherwise it would not be specified as a "5GB" unit). But that's not to be considered an informed answer by any means.

Hope that helps somewhat....
KC

[CA625671]

BTW, with regard to restoring all pertinent data to your HD from a possibly defective cartridge, one should restore it *all* to a *separate* folder. That will preclude any possible corruption of the current system and existing HD data.

KC

[CA625671]

Okay - - just one more "PS", JF.

For your question regarding upgrading a 5GB drive to 8GB, see:

http://bizforums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x168f8cc5e03fd6118fff0090279cd0f9,00.html

That thread is entitled: "HP 5GB Upgrade to 8GB," and was initiated March 26, 2002 by Hal Cohen, with John Nash providing quite valuable assistance.