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Ultrium 920 SCSI always ejecting tape

 
kadeksuardana
New Member

Ultrium 920 SCSI always ejecting tape

Hi all,

please help, my issue is as follows. 

I am using HP StorageWorks Ultrium 920 Internal SCSI, connected to a WIndows Server 2003 with Symantec Backup Exec 2010 R2 (media server: Version 13.0 Rev. 4164 (32bit).

I have 7 backup jobs, daily full backup everyday using one single tape HP LTO-3 (C7973A 800GB RW). my data size is about 650 GB so one tape is used to be enough. However starting couple days ago, the Ultrium 920 is always ejecting the tape everytime when it reaches the last backup job . I assume the tape is out of space? But I have a doubt since the capacity of the tape is 800GB while my data is only 650GB. Besides, there is no way my data size jump from 650GB into more than 800GB over night. I tried to change with new tape but the problem still exist. then I checked on the Symantec Backup Exec (on the 'Devices' tab). I found something that says like this:

Hard Write Errors: 5

Hard Read Errors: 5

I consulted this issue to Symantec Backup Exec support, and they said there is some problem with the Ultrium 920 causing the tape drive keep ejecting the tape cartridge. I am not sure if this is the root case.

Can someone please give me ideas and solution to solve this issue?

Thank you

2 REPLIES 2
Torsten.
Acclaimed Contributor

Re: Ultrium 920 SCSI always ejecting tape

A LTO-3 tape has a capacity of 400GB, not 800GB.

800GB assumes an ideal compression ratio of 1:2, so this is a unrealistic pure marketing value.


Hope this helps!
Regards
Torsten.

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Ganz
Trusted Contributor

Re: Ultrium 920 SCSI always ejecting tape

Hello kadeksuardana,

Thank you for the information provided. The hard read/write errors either means the drive heads are dirty and the LTO drives are usually self cleaning and only would request a cleaning tape if the drive heads are dirty and need a cleaning tape and this is usually indicated by the clean LED which would be lit on the drive. If there is already a cleaning tape in the autoloader and the autoclean option is set to 'On' then this cleaning takes place automatically. To isolate the drive/media issue, you may proceed to do the following:

1. Try to use a brand new/known good tape and run the same backup to it. If it fails with same hard errors, proceed to download and install Library and tape tools. Library and Tape Tools (User Guide to Library and Tape tools

 

2. Run the Drive assessment test. (The loaded tape should be a scratch/new tape and not a tape with data). You may additionally run the Read/Write test to test the performance of the drive. The advanced test options provide you an option to run test on the whole tape. 

Additional checks:

Ensure that the LTO tape driver running is the newer/latest version. Refer to the article About Polling in Windows 2003 server  and ensure the autorun key is set to disabled for hplto and hpuln32/hpuln64 in registry. Reboot the server to for the changes to take effect. If there is any additional tape monitoring software, you may want to stop the service and then test the backup again. For further diagnosis with refernece to the health of the Drive or tape, the support tickets will have to be reviewed for a better picture. The support ticket is better captured with the loaded tape so we can read the metrics off the tape that was used for testing.