NTBACKUP

[Graeme Carstairs]

Hello list,

Has anyone manage to get unattended backups to run using NTBackup under windows 2000 server on a ssingle tape drive?

I have tried everything on Microsofts Technet Q articels, loadin ntbackup as a service using srvany, all the scrips they recommend, icluding the ones that run RSM reffresh etc. The backup runs ok for a week but wehen you start reuseing used tapes, the backup start and the reprts that the "incorrect media is in the drive, do you want ot continue, yes or no."

This is not what we are looking for , I just want the backup to run every night no matter what tape is in the drive, is this too much to ask, the old ntbackup in Windows NT4 was a lot less user friendly but at least it done what you asked it to.

Thanks

Graeme

[Greg Trunec]

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Graeme Carstairs at 8/27/2002 4:28:29 AM


Hello list,

Has anyone manage to get unattended backups to run using NTBackup under windows 2000 server on a ssingle tape drive?

I have tried everything on Microsofts Technet Q articels, loadin ntbackup as a service using srvany, all the scrips they recommend, icluding the ones that run RSM reffresh etc. The backup runs ok for a week but wehen you start reuseing used tapes, the backup start and the reprts that the "incorrect media is in the drive, do you want ot continue, yes or no."

This is not what we are looking for , I just want the backup to run every night no matter what tape is in the drive, is this too much to ask, the old ntbackup in Windows NT4 was a lot less user friendly but at least it done what you asked it to.

Thanks

Graeme

I feel your pain! I too enjoyed perfect unattended backups using NTBACKUP and NT Resource Kits AT tool when our network was young. Then we advanced?
We needed to backup all of the servers in the enterprise. We bought a famous brand of backup software and it worked great for a few months. Then the agony of "incorrect media is in the drive . . ." began. Never got it working as reliably as ol' NTBACKUP. After I left that company I found out an upgraded server was installed with a more robust tape drive and software. Some things you might consider are:
- Hardware compatability with Windows 2000. Is your drive on the HCL list?
- Disconnect and reconnect drive cables and replace if you have the slightest suspicions of cable quality.
- Clean, clean, clean that tape drive! Get the best cleaning tape and use it everyday. Especially when running brand new tapes which deposit extra oxide on the precious tape drive heads. Do double cleanings once every week if you backup daily.
- Replace tapes per manufacturers specs. We bought new ones at the new year and just archived the old ones.
- And if your tape drive is 2 or more years old and was used daily then buy a new one. They're mechanical and they just wear out. That's cheaper than not having valuable or even unreplaceable data backups. Ours was a 4mm format which we wore out even after 18 months.
Hope these suggestions help.
Greg

[Greg Trunec]

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Greg Trunec at 8/27/2002 1:46:18 PM




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Graeme Carstairs at 8/27/2002 4:28:29 AM


Hello list,

Has anyone manage to get unattended backups to run using NTBackup under windows 2000 server on a ssingle tape drive?

I have tried everything on Microsofts Technet Q articels, loadin ntbackup as a service using srvany, all the scrips they recommend, icluding the ones that run RSM reffresh etc. The backup runs ok for a week but wehen you start reuseing used tapes, the backup start and the reprts that the "incorrect media is in the drive, do you want ot continue, yes or no."

This is not what we are looking for , I just want the backup to run every night no matter what tape is in the drive, is this too much to ask, the old ntbackup in Windows NT4 was a lot less user friendly but at least it done what you asked it to.

Thanks

Graeme

I feel your pain! I too enjoyed perfect unattended backups using NTBACKUP and NT Resource Kits AT tool when our network was young. Then we advanced?
We needed to backup all of the servers in the enterprise. We bought a famous brand of backup software and it worked great for a few months. Then the agony of "incorrect media is in the drive . . ." began. Never got it working as reliably as ol' NTBACKUP. After I left that company I found out an upgraded server was installed with a more robust tape drive and software. Some things you might consider are:
- Hardware compatability with Windows 2000. Is your drive on the HCL list?
- Disconnect and reconnect drive cables and replace if you have the slightest suspicions of cable quality.
- Clean, clean, clean that tape drive! Get the best cleaning tape and use it everyday. Especially when running brand new tapes which deposit extra oxide on the precious tape drive heads. Do double cleanings once every week if you backup daily.
- Replace tapes per manufacturers specs. We bought new ones at the new year and just archived the old ones.
- And if your tape drive is 2 or more years old and was used daily then buy a new one. They're mechanical and they just wear out. That's cheaper than not having valuable or even unreplaceable data backups. Ours was a 4mm format which we wore out even after 18 months.
Hope these suggestions help.
Greg

Another thing. Your tape drive might need a firmware upgrade for Windows 2000. Ours did. Go to tape drive manufacturer's or system builder's (ours was Compaq) website for drives and any other hardware that needs it.
Greg

[Ross Hopkins]

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Graeme Carstairs at 8/27/2002 4:28:29 AM


Hello list,

Has anyone manage to get unattended backups to run using NTBackup under windows 2000 server on a ssingle tape drive?

I have tried everything on Microsofts Technet Q articels, loadin ntbackup as a service using srvany, all the scrips they recommend, icluding the ones that run RSM reffresh etc. The backup runs ok for a week but wehen you start reuseing used tapes, the backup start and the reprts that the "incorrect media is in the drive, do you want ot continue, yes or no."

This is not what we are looking for , I just want the backup to run every night no matter what tape is in the drive, is this too much to ask, the old ntbackup in Windows NT4 was a lot less user friendly but at least it done what you asked it to.

Thanks

Graeme

Hi Graeme,
well I had a similar problem when I first used NTBACKUP with SBS2000 but have now found a way that works a treat for me. We too do daily backups and have 3 weeks of tapes for rotation and offsite storage etc.

When inserting the next tape, once or twice a week I will do a test restore to an alternate loaction from the original backup file(just to make sure the backups are working correctly) then with NTBACKUP open, I right click the inserted tape under the media pool concerned, select all tasks and deallocate.

This will give you a warning that deallocating will mean the data will be unaccessable etc (which doesn't matter to me as it is being overwritten anyhow)and then that tape is returned to the free media pool nad it's status will read idle, available.

hope this helps

regards

Ross

[Graeme Carstairs]

RIght Guys thanks for the help but in the end, gave up baught Backup Exec, works perfectly everynight no matter what tapes in the drive.

Cheers gain for the help


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Ross Hopkins at 8/29/2002 12:41:56 AM




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Graeme Carstairs at 8/27/2002 4:28:29 AM


Hello list,

Has anyone manage to get unattended backups to run using NTBackup under windows 2000 server on a ssingle tape drive?

I have tried everything on Microsofts Technet Q articels, loadin ntbackup as a service using srvany, all the scrips they recommend, icluding the ones that run RSM reffresh etc. The backup runs ok for a week but wehen you start reuseing used tapes, the backup start and the reprts that the "incorrect media is in the drive, do you want ot continue, yes or no."

This is not what we are looking for , I just want the backup to run every night no matter what tape is in the drive, is this too much to ask, the old ntbackup in Windows NT4 was a lot less user friendly but at least it done what you asked it to.

Thanks

Graeme

Hi Graeme,
well I had a similar problem when I first used NTBACKUP with SBS2000 but have now found a way that works a treat for me. We too do daily backups and have 3 weeks of tapes for rotation and offsite storage etc.

When inserting the next tape, once or twice a week I will do a test restore to an alternate loaction from the original backup file(just to make sure the backups are working correctly) then with NTBACKUP open, I right click the inserted tape under the media pool concerned, select all tasks and deallocate.

This will give you a warning that deallocating will mean the data will be unaccessable etc (which doesn't matter to me as it is being overwritten anyhow)and then that tape is returned to the free media pool nad it's status will read idle, available.

hope this helps

regards

Ross