We have an HP 5713A SCSI internal autochanger, which is hooked up to a Compaq DL 380 Server. Our software for the backup is Veritas Backup Exec 8.6. All the updated firmware and drivers have been loaded.

However, in order to remove the cartridge from the auto-changer, I have to stop all Backup Exec services and then restart them after the cartridge was removed. If the services are not stopped and you try and remove the cartridge, the server will crash. I also get the following message after a backup (full or differential) is run:

UNSAFE REMOVAL OF THE DEVICE

UNKNOWN MEDIUM CHANGER DEVICE

In order for this message to stop appearing, I have to reboot the server. So just about ever day I am now forced to reboot the server before starting any type of backup.

So I came into work one day and found out that the backup had failed but had backed up almost 15.6GB before it did. I’m supposed to backup about 180 GB for a full backup over the weekend and 7-9 GB on a differential done Monday - Thursday. I think it failed during verification. I then decided to retry the backup. I came back about 1 hour later and saw that the drive hardware is offline and that the program had cancelled the backup. It did backup about 1.6GB before it stopped. I then tried to remove the magazine and the autoloader said that MEDIA REMOVAL PREVENTED. I went in to SERVICES and stopped all services for Backup Exec. I removed the magazine and restarted the services. Now under devices, robotic library, it is showing that the HP-1 autoloader as being off-line. The only way I have been able to resolve this is by rebooting the server.

The other day I was trying to do perform a restore to insure that this could be done. You know, part of disaster recovery. We had performed a full backup the weekend of March 1 with out a problem. (AMAZING!) Each tape (5 total) was given a media label during backup. I placed the tapes into the HP autoloader and opened Backup Exec. However, I went to devices and looked in the slots under HP-1, it said that the media was unknown. The program seemed to be unable to see the media or its labels in the slots. This was before I even tried to start to restore some files. If the media has been given a media label during backup, shouldn't the program be able to see it after it is removed and replaced?

I still keep trying to get a backup going but the program seems to want to cancel/abort the backup and places the autoloader off line. Thats been happening for the last week or so.


Needless to say I am not having a great time. Iwould like to get a full backup by this weekend if possible. And YES.....I have been talking with both HP and Veritas. So if anyone has any ideas please post them.

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I am assuming, since you're on the latest rev of Backup Exec that you're also running Win 2000 Server???

I used Veritas quite a bit and ran many of the same tests you are for disaster recovery preparations.

Couple of questions:

1. Are you reinventorying the tapes to set them up for recovery?
2. Are you using Veritas tape drivers or drivers that came with the HP drive? If you're not using Veritas drivers, you may want to try reinstalling and selecting the option to let Veritas "take control" of the tape device. (If found this to be very key).

FYI - Veritas is a beefed up verstion of NT Backup. The company itself used to be part of Microsoft, therefore, Veritas Backup Exec is built on the same priciples as NT Backup.

For all of its quirks, I would still rather work with Veritas than with Arc Serve I also found the tech support at Veritas to be pretty good at working the problem through with you and following up to be sure it's resolved.

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Well lets start with the Program itself. It is the latest rev from Veritas from their webpage. Like I said I have been talking with them since the middle of February. The drivers for the autoloader are from Veritas also. I will however try to reinstall the drivers and see what happens. I had this whole thing running great for about 2 weeks in February and then all these problems appeared.

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OK.............I think the problem has been solved. We had to update the SCSI Bios. All the updated drivers ansd firmware were from Veritas. We were able to get a full backup this past weekend and I plan to do a recovery this week. Wish me luck!

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Good luck - we'll keep our fingers crossed.

__________________
The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play.
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We have enough youth, how about a fountain of smart?

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OK........everything has been working great. Although this past weekend the backup slowed to a crawl. I was able to restore some data folders back onto the server without a hitch on Friday. We plan on doing that every quarter to ensure that restore is possible. I also have the task of writting a disaster recovery for the standard operating proceedure (SOP). OH FUN!! I made up a work sheet also to be placed in the Network Binder for furture reference.

One less thing I have to worry about. I feel that the backup and restore should be one of those things that I shouldn't have to worry about and should be the easiest thing to manage.

We shall see.

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hello,


We seem to be having a very similar problem at my work....Can you tell me what the procedure was to update the SCSI Bios??

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You need to find out who the manufacture of the SCSI card and the model number. Most manufactures have webpages with downloads. Our SCSI card was an Adaptec made for Compaq. It was very easy. Just follow the instructions from the manufacture.

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