W2K Backup Utility doesn't see the tape drive

[Ayman Altounji]

I have installed the 20/40 GB External Autoloader and the drivers have been installed properly. The remote storage service has been started but the only option in the Windows 2000 Backup Utility for a backup destination is to a file. How come it cannot see my tape drive???

[Ayman Altounji]

"Remote Storage..." Not supported by Win2K backup... Doyou have this drive attached to this server?

[Ayman Altounji]

Sorry, I don't mean Remote Storage, I meant Removeable storage. I got the Removeable Storage to detect the media. I didn't realize that you had to load tape 1 manually using the select button on the drive. Now we have a new issue. Getting the Windows Backup Utility to run an unattended backup. We keep getting an error message in our log file for the backup utility that says , "The Operation was not performed because no unused media was available."

[Ayman Altounji]

I am having the same exact problem on a Proliant 3000. I've been through Micro soft site and all of compaq and can not find a resolution. Tried Softpaq's and drivers, still no results. I know that it has to do with Windows 2000 Removable Storage Manager and the library configuration. The Compaq tape device shows up with a red I, Although I can't find anything on Micro soft site to fix the problem.

[Ayman Altounji]

Well, I figured out the whole issue w/ getting the RSM to see the tape drive. Unfortunately, the new RSM (Removable Storage Manager) Feature of W2K Server sucks! As for the compaq tape drive it is nice, but it would also be nice if you didn't have to load each tape manually! To get RSM to see your media. Load your autoloader up w/ tapes. (One of the 3 recommended configurations made by compaq) Then after the drive is done checking all tapes. Press the select button so that tape 1 is blinking then press enter to load that tape.

Once you have done this, you can open coputer management, go to RSM and select Physical Locations, then choose the drive. If you can't see any media loaded in the media group, or the device group shows the status of the drive as empty, hit the F5 key to refresh, then it should say that you have New, Unprepared media in the drive. To use the tape, you need to prepare it. (Right click on unprepared media and choose prepare) You will need to do this for any addtional media in the autoloader you want to use as well. Once you have prepared at least one tape, you can open the Backup Utility and you should have another option now for destination location. The only thing that sucks about this whole new RSM is that there is this whole big deal about preparing and labeling media now. Infact running an unattended backup won't work for us because of some bug in the ntbackup.exe file. (The ntbackup.exe file included w/ Windows 2000 SP1 is outdated as well) you need a file ver. of 08-05-00 or newer to fix this bug however Microsoft hasn't released it yet because it hasn't been fully regression tested. If you can't run an unattended backup go to this MS knowledgebase article for more info on Scheduled backups failing.

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q267/5/74.asp?ln=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=NTBACKUP&rnk=30&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=WIN2000

Or if for some reason, this address doesn't work (because it is long and rediculous) the article number on the knowledge base is Q267574.

I just want to know why the Autoloader won't automatically load tape 1 once the media library has been loaded into the drive. The HP sure Store 2100 is a outdated but nice Autoloader that just took the mdia right in and as soon as the backup is run nightly, it would just load the media right up! Now there is too many problems created by introducing this new RSM into the picture. There is too much management for such a simple process like backups!!!

[Ayman Altounji]

I have done the same as you have and even tried following your instructions. I still can't get the W2K backup utility to recognize tapes properly. I keep getting the message, "Removable Storage did not mount the requested media. The Operation was aborted."
The interesting thing is that Veritas Backup Exec works just fine, however the customer insists on using the W2K backup. Any suggestions?
Thanks

[Ayman Altounji]

I did get the W2K backup utility to work with the Autoloader. I had to load the following Soft Paqs, SP13024, Sp14135, SP11662, SP14471. I also installed a hot fix from Microsoft referenced in document Q267574. The RSM was able to manage the media at this point, but the backup utility was not talking to the RSM. I finally stopped the RSM service, renamed the RSM databases per MS technote Q235032, restarted the server, stopped RSM, deleted the new RSM databases that were created, and renamed the old databases to their original names. I started RSM again and was able to do a backup using the W2K backup utility. It appears that the RSm database gets corrupted easily and then won't connect with the backup utility.