NTBackup problems

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I am having issues with a scripted backup using NTBackup.

The backup worked about 90% of the time before we have an issue with the
tape drive. It is a quantum DLT1. I have upgraded the tape drivers and
firmware to the latest.

The backup will start running and backup the C: drive selections and begin
the D: drive. But then sometime during the backup it will eject the tape.
There is NO eject command in the script. There are no errors in the event
logs.

The tape drive is a 40/80. The backup is set to use hardware compression.
The backup total is about 45 gigs.

Could the tape drive not be using compression? Can I get more info from
NTBackup about any errors?
 
Spechty said:
I am having issues with a scripted backup using NTBackup.

The backup worked about 90% of the time before we have an issue with the
tape drive. It is a quantum DLT1. I have upgraded the tape drivers and
firmware to the latest.

The backup will start running and backup the C: drive selections and begin
the D: drive. But then sometime during the backup it will eject the tape.
There is NO eject command in the script. There are no errors in the event
logs.

The tape drive is a 40/80. The backup is set to use hardware compression.
The backup total is about 45 gigs.

Could the tape drive not be using compression? Can I get more info from
NTBackup about any errors?
Click to expand...

What do the ntbackup log files report?
 
If the backup logs are blank then the job hung or was forcibly
terminated. You must now run the job in the foreground and
watch why it hangs.
 
Pegasus,

I can sucessfully run a manual backup of anything on the server. we also
have the HC:on switch in the script.

I ran a scheduled task backup last night. I changed the .bks file so only
the D partition was backed up. The backup completed fine and got 46 gb on
the tape.

I then rescheduled it to run alittle later this time adding the system state
and some files on the C partition. The backup job never completed and it was
the same thing this morning, tape ejected NTbackup.exe in the processes tab
and nothing in the backup log.

Just a note I put the C; patition files and system state at the end of the
..bks file, but the event log shows it backed up C: first.

there are no other events in the event log relating to the backup

I read there is a hot fix for NTbackup when backing up the system state,
could that be my issue?
 
The cause seems to be obvious: Your data does not
fit onto the one tape and ntbackup asks you for a
new tape. If you had examined the Task Manager
then you would have seen that ntbackup.exe is still
resident, waiting for the new tape.

Hardware compression works only if supported by
the tape drive. Some manufacturers such as Seagate
will cheerfully quote a capacity of 10/20 GBytes for
their drives, omitting that the 20 GByte figure relies
on ***software*** compression.

Depending on the version of Windows, you can make
the scheduled job visible by running it under the same
account as your foreground session.
 
I am only backing up an additional 700 meg plus the system state when the
backup fails.

And if the tape drive is a 40/80, I should not be getting almost 47 gig
onthe tape without compression.
 
I read what you write but I note that the backup
job appears to be waiting for an input. I'm not going
to argue with ntbackup.exe about tape capacity.
Much better to find out what's causing the problem.
 
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