PowerVault 100T DDS4 keeps ejecting tapes

I think i have heard of DDS4 drives not accepting older generation (DDS2 like) tapes... anyone know of anything like that...

Hi All --

For the past two days I've been struggling with what seems to be a similar problem in that my Dell PV-100T tape drive is refusing to use tapes that had all been working just fine until switching the tape drive to a new box. 

I recently moved my Dell PV-100T  DDS4 (firmware 8071-052) to a new poweredge 400sc server running windows server 2003. (I had been running windows 2000 on my old server) The new server reports everything is running okay under device manager -- other details SCSI port 3, Bus 0, Target 6, Lun 0)  It's an Archive Python 06408-xxx.  However, it keeps rejecting or spitting out the tapes I try to use for backup.  In Backup Exec 9.1, the program states the tapes are "unrecognized media".  I've attempted to erase (successfully) and label (successfully, per the results reported by the pgm), but still the program insists the tapes are unrecognized and them marks them as "retired".  I've moved them to imported media, to scratch media, etc. with overwrite permissions, but still no go -- the tapes get moved to "retired".  I have about 35 of these DDS 4 tapes and spent a pretty penny on the things and am reluctant to chuck the whole backup drive and tapes.  Still, if I can't figure out how to backup soon, I'm pretty exposed in the event of data loss.

When I run TapeRx.exe: I get the following:

Thu Jan 01 12:49:37 2004
SCSI Port: 3, Bus: 0, Target: 6, Lun: 0
DELL PV-100T-DDS4, Firmware: 8071-052
Serial# HJ00NXH
 
Issued Cmd: Test Read-Write.
Issued Cmd: Test Unit Ready.
Issued Cmd: Load Tape.
Issued Cmd: Write 20 MB to tape.
Write Command Complete.
Issued Cmd: Write File Marks.
Issued Cmd: Rewind Tape.
Issued Cmd: Read 20 MB from tape.
Test failed, Read/Compare errors detected!
 

The electronics test finds:

Thu Jan 01 12:56:08 2004
SCSI Port: 3, Bus: 0, Target: 6, Lun: 0
DELL PV-100T-DDS4, Firmware: 8071-052
Serial# HJ00NXH
 Issued Cmd: Begin Resident Device Test.
Resident Device Test Complete: Report Pass.
 

Any help any of you can provide would be much appreciated. Also, if for some reason I can't get this to work -- I would appreciate any recommendations for other affordable backup solutions (for my sql database and server files).

Thanks!
Krista

 I'm bbbaaaccckkk....

     Just when I got the drive replaced a while back (for the second time, keeping track now) we upgraded a couple of our servers to 2k3 Server, including the server in which said tape drive is installed...well...guess what...uhh...no. Drive no worky...This Systems Engineer is getting a bit perturbed. Anyone else having this problem with this error message on a Windows Server 2003 with a PowerVault 100 DDS 4 drive? So far the only stuff I've come up with is the user running the backup is not a member of the Backup Operators group...well..that's got nothing to do with it. I have firmare version 9100.

Backup Status
Operation: Backup
Active backup destination: 4mm DDS
Media name: "Media created 1/5/2004 at 9:18 AM"

The device reported an error on a request to MS_UpdateNtmsOmidInfo.
Error reported: 11.
There may be a hardware or media problem.
Please check the system event log for relevant failures.
An inconsistency was encountered on the media in 4mm DDS. Do not append to this media.
The operation was ended.
Backup completed on 1/5/2004 at 9:19 AM.
Directories: 0
Files: 0
Bytes: 0
Time:  1 second

Drive no worky?  Now you've got me worried.  After spending days troubleshooting, Dell tech support concluded that while my W2K3 server could see the tape drive (it shows up in system devices as working), said tape drive cannot read the tapes (I've tried a half dozen or so . . .) Because it is unlikely the tapes suddenly became error prone all at the same time, the tech support guy concluded I needed a new 600 dollar tape drive.  Ugh.  It's sitting here in the box. I've yet to install it. But IF that puppy doesn't work once it is installed, then I just replaced a tape drive for no reason.  (I'll keep you posted).  I suspect the original drive is not broken as it worked perfectly before moving it to a new server . . .

All for now.

Cheers,.

Krista

Here's the funny part. I didn't even consider using Veritas BE 8.6 assuming that it wouldn't work either. It works fine under Win2K3 so far. Maybe it's just an NTBackup issue that hasn't been resolved properly yet.

That's all I can find.

Good luck

Hi guys -

I promised an update. The new tape drive doesn't work either. IT HAS THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM -- errors attempting to write to my tape drive resulting in the tape drive upchucking my brand new tapes. My last tech support guy at Dell said that tapes used in a different computer may not work in a new one -- even if one were using the same tape drive. The answer? Degausse used tapes. So I went and bought a degausser (magnetic eraser) from radio shack. No go.  I bought new tapes.  No go.  I am so OVER this . . .does ANYONE have any suggestions on how to get my PV 100T to work in my Windows 2003 server sytem on my Poweredge 400sc?

ANY SUGGESTIONS would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Krista

The only thing I found looking around was that the Veritas software interferes with NTBackup in some way or another. The only way to use NTBackup is to uninstall the BackupExec software. It's a known issue. I didn't want to do that so I've been using the Veritas in combination with NTBackup like this.  

      -Using NTBackup I backup what I need to another hard drive.

      -Using BackupExec I copy the .bkf files on the hard drive to tape.

A really roundabout way of doing things but it's working so far...still anxious to see how a restore would go though.

There was a registry fix for later versions of Veritas BE on their site, you may want to give that a try if this matches your issue.

Again, PE2500, PVT 100, Windows Server 2003 Enterprise