Cyclic Redundancy Check

[HarkinsIT]

I have been having a problem with my backup jobs failing while using Backup Exec 10d and an HP Ultrium LTO2 StorageWorks 1/8 Tape Autoloader and drive. The job would always fail when it got to the verify part and would throw up the error:
"Verify- F: Storage device "HP 2" reported an error on a request to read data from media.
Error reported:
Data error (cyclic redundancy check).
This could be caused by either a dirty tape drive, bad media, or a SCSI problem.
V-79-57344-33991 - The media is bad."

This device was hooked to a Storage Works NAS 1500s server. I had tried new tapes but still received the same problem. At the time these errors started happening, we were in the process of replacing the server, so I figured that I would just wait and see if the problem went away when we got the new server.

Our new box was a DL380 G4 storage server. I took the SCSI card out of the old box and put it in the new one and the verify errors continued. I then purchased a new SCSI card and hooked the drive to it but the same errors continued. I also tried cleaning the drive with a new cleaning tape, changing out the drive cable and updating the drive firmware, but still no luck.

For now, I have turned off the verify setting on my backup job and it runs fine, but this is not an acceptable solution. I have been able to restore a few small files from tape when I needed to so I don't think the read heads are completely shot but I really have no idea what I should try next. Can anyone give me a push in the right direction? Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks

-Chris

[Benjamin Fisher]

hey there,

i would first suggest that you try a brand new tape in the drive, it could be that your media has become degraded and therefore causing the issue.

if this still does not solve the issue, then it may be worthwhile trying a firmware upgrade to see whether this changes anything (you would be surprised)

if not, and invariably this is what the conclusion with most of the errors i receive like this, the tape drive is on its way out.

i would check that another product. such as NT Backup comes up with the same errors also!

[HarkinsIT]

Thanks for the response. I have already tried the brand new tape and upgrading the firmware and neither has fixed the problem. I will give the ntbackup thing a shot and see how it goes.

Thanks very much.

-Chris

[HarkinsIT]

I backed up a single remote server for kicks with the verify enabled and it worked fine. It seems that I only get this CRC error when I try to verify the backup on the local server where Backup Exec and the tape drive are installed. It looks like there might be a specific file/folder that's causing the CRC error when the job tries to verify it. Is there any way to figure out what exactly the job is having troubles with? The normal logs do not provide any useful information in regards to this.

Thanks
-Chris