strangeness with tape drives

[RejectionMan]

sup all,

Covering the tape backup for another guy while hes on vacation.

While troulbeshooting a problem with one of the server backups I noticed that the model of drive on this server matches that of the other 4 servers that we have been having problems with for some time and have writen off.

Problem: Drive ejects the tape a) immediatly (obvious HW problem), b) mid job (why?), c) never (obvious HW problem)

Particulars:

Drive: DAT 9SP40-000
Backup software: Backup Exec 8.6
Data backed up: Stops around 26 GB (tape ejected)

Any one have any iders as to why?

[slgrieb]

Quick and dirty reply since I'm not familiar with this specific drive. Check your compression settings in Backup Exec. Sounds like compression is disabled. Also, if this drive has hardware controlled compression (i.e. front panel control buttons) that will usually override software settings. Many drives with hardware controled compression default to an uncompressed backup and may need to be manually reset to compress data before every backup.

[RejectionMan]

compression is set to bacuk exe defaults and to use HW if enabled then use SW. there are no control buttons on the drive other than eject.

HW compresion being broken is a good place to look given the circumstances.

[RejectionMan]

compression is set to bacuk exe defaults and to use HW if enabled then use SW. there are no control buttons on the drive other than eject.

HW compresion being broken is a good place to look given the circumstances.

Eureka!

HW copression on DSS4 almost never works. the maximum SW compression with Backup Exec is 1.25:1. the backup jobs stop at 24-25.2 gb = 1.24-1.26:1 ratio.

now to make the jobs fit on one tape!