2/20 and Backup Exec 8.6 mysterious problems

[BR690248]

Periodically, we have a regular tape declared a cleaning tape, which blows things up since it isn't a cleaning tape and the drive doesn't recognize it as such. We also seem to need cleaning very often, every 30-50 hours of use. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[CA777699]

Karl,
Veritas BE will mark a tape as a cleaning tape under certain conditions. Basically if they can't read data, they assume that the tape is a cleaning tape. There are a couple things I would look at. First, download Library and Tape Tools from HP:
< www.hp.com/support/tapetools >
"For each drive, you can select the read/write test (under the Test tool), load the suspect tape from the library front panel, and run the read/write test." (Thanks Dave Ruska)
This test is destructive to any data on the tape, but from the sounds of things, BE can't read that data anyway. This test will determine whether or not you have a hardware, media, or a software problem. If the test is OK, or OK on certain tapes, the drives should be OK. If the test runs fine on all tapes, it sounds like a software or driver problem. If certain tapes fail consistantly, then you may have a media issue.
Make sure you are running the latest BE 8.6 (build 3878 I believe), and you have any patches installed. Check with Veritas to see what their current rev is.


-Barry Reider