LTO4-EH1 PN 45E3731 Compatibility

Question

I wanted to find out if the PoverVault tape drive we have (SCSI) is compatible with Windows 2012 R2 server. Currently have this connected to a Dell PowerEdge R710 using Adaptec 29310LPE card. Server picks up the card ok, but I am not able to get it to see the drive itself.

We have not used this drive for a long time and information I was able to see on the drive is LTO4-EH1 and P/N 45E3731.

Thanks.

DELL-Sam L · Accepted Answer

Hello Latif,

Here are the drivers for the LTO4 tape drive that you have & you will need to install them to get the drive to be seen. www.dell.com/.../powervault-lto4-120hh

Secondly with the last 2 lights flashing amber that could mean that the drive may not be at the home position. what you can do is to hold in the eject button for about 20 seconds till the drive reboots and see if that resets it to a ready state. With the drive having amber lights it will not be seen by the OS in most cases.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Dev Mgr · Accepted Answer

Keep in mind that Windows' native backup cannot use a tape drive. Microsoft removed this capability a few versions ago. So you'll need a regular backup software solution to actually use the tape drive.

With such software you usually do not want to install the Windows drivers as it could conflict with the software package's own drivers. You should however see the drive in the device manager, if anything as an unknown device.

DELL-Sam L · Answer

Hello Latif,

With you using a PE R710 with an LTO4 tape drive that is SCSI Dell recommends that you can use the LSI 2032 as it will fit into the R710 as seen on page 9 of the following link. ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_ser_stor_net/esuprt_powervault/powervault-lto4-120hh_Reference%20Guide9_en-us.pdf

Now the Adaptec card that you are currently using when you boot the server does it see the tape drive when it scans the SCSI bus on post? If it doesn’t see the drive on post then that can be why the drive is not seen by the OS.

The LTO4 drives can work with windows 2012 R2 as I have one connected in our lab that is running 2012 R2.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Latif_ee7dc4 · Answer

Thanks for the reply Sam.

I have emailed Adaptec who pointed me to the right direction with regards to downloading the correct drivers. I have now downloaded these drivers and card is recognised.

During the post boot, I can go to SCSI configuration (Crtl-A) and scan which then can find card on SCSI ID 5 and Tape drive on SCSI ID 3.

When I go in to Windows Server 2012 R2 Device Manager, I am only able to see the SCSI card and not the drive.

One other thing I have noticed is the bottom two amber lights are constantly flashing on the tape drive. Any idea as to what these lights are?

Do I require drivers for the Tape Drive?

Thanks.

Latif_ee7dc4 · Answer

Thanks for the replies. Will post back with my findings.

Latif_ee7dc4 · Answer

Hi, just to update this case, here is what I did so far;

After reading further about the SCSI card, I found that the card ID must always be set to 7. Changed this back from 5 to 7 and I was able to see SCSI Disk Device under Other Devices.

Holding the eject button for 20 seconds also helped to clear one of the amber lights. Second was due to tape drive head requiring cleaning, so once I cleaned the tape drive head, all amber lights disappeared.

Current issue remains that I am unable to get the Windows 2012 R2 to recognise the Tape drive as it appears as SCSI Disk Device. Tried installing the drivers, but it did not like these.

Furthermore, the software I am using 'Microsoft Data Protection Manager 2012' is also failing to see the Tape drive.

Any further ideas getting this to work as DPM being a MS product, perhaps it requires correct drivers to be installed?!

Latif_ee7dc4 · Answer

Update:

Just got this to work by manually adding the LTO drivers from Windows Device manager as instructed here:

richardstk.com/.../system-center-data-protection-manager-2010-doesnt-detect-tape-drives

Thanks for all your help on this.

PowerVault

LTO4-EH1 PN 45E3731 Compatibility

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