StoreEver Tape Storage
1748239 Members
3822 Online
108759 Solutions
New Discussion юеВ

HP Dat160 usb Tape drive not recognizing tape in drive

 
Anastasia
New Member

HP Dat160 usb Tape drive not recognizing tape in drive

I have inherited an issue in my new job that has been ongoing for several months. We have several clients using SBS 2008 servers with HP Dat160 usb internal Tape drive. The drive either does not recognize that a tape is inserted into the drive, or it shows offline in Backup Exex 12.5. In the course of troubleshooting I have uninstalled the Backup exec, and the HP Dat160 usb drive. I have reintalled the drive and installed HP StorageWorks Library and Tape Tools. All drivers and firmware updates have been completed. Several tapes, including new, have been inserted into the drive, and HP StorageWorks Library and Tape Tools also does not recognize that there is media in the tape drive. I have confirmed the tapes are compatible. Drive has been cleaned. Previous techs have replaced the drive hardware several times.

Does anyone have any ideas?
4 REPLIES 4
Michael A. McKenney
Respected Contributor

Re: HP Dat160 usb Tape drive not recognizing tape in drive

Go into device manager. Check to see if the symantec backup exec driver is installed. Run tapeinst.exe from the BE directory and remove and reinstall the driver. Once you are sure the driver is installed. Run a cleaning tape 5x. Then format a new tape and do a test backup of a few files.

Did you disable the features for HP LTT in the services. BE 12.5 needs to have several services for HP LTT disabled to work properly. You also need the BE drivers to get it working. 2008 and Windows 7 requires RAWS agent installed to connect and backup. Did you get the RAWS agent?
Anastasia
New Member

Re: HP Dat160 usb Tape drive not recognizing tape in drive

My understanding from all documentation I have read is that the HP DAT160 usb should only use the manufacturer's drivers, which it is and which are current. Also note that the firmware has been updated as well.

At this time I am troubleshooting the drive only. I have completely uninstalled Backup Exec 12.5 and am troubleshooting with the HP StorageWorks Library and Tape Tools, as the issue persists in this software as well, and as it was designed for troubleshooting. The fact that the issue remains without Backup exec on the system makes me think the issue is not Backup Exec, but rather the functionning of the HP Dat160 usb drive on an SBS server, and or the tapes themselves. The drives persistantly do not see that there is a tape inserted. As mentionned earlier, these are confirmed compatible disks, and drives have been cleaned multiple times (at this time are even being cleaned despite being brand new). I cannot troubleshoot the tapes if the HP StorageWorks Library and Tape Tools is not recognizing that they are there. Any thoughts?
Michael A. McKenney
Respected Contributor

Re: HP Dat160 usb Tape drive not recognizing tape in drive

If you uninstalled BE completely, it is not the issue. LTT updated the firmware. Did you run a cleaning tape 5x and then test with a new tape. Do a quick format then long format. Then a r/w test. It could be a bad tape drive.
Anastasia
New Member

Re: HP Dat160 usb Tape drive not recognizing tape in drive

Yes, I agree BE is not the issue. LTT did update the firmware. I have run a cleaning tape more than 5x ( and then purchase a new cleaning tape and ran again) and purchased completely new tapes for all clients. I do not believe it is a bad tape drive only because it has been replaced 3x on the box I am working on now, and several times on other SBS servers I have to work on. I cannot do a format nor a r/w test when the system does not recognize the presence of the tape in the drive.