Paul Rubin wrote in message ...
(Arthur Begun) writes:
After Backup Exec backups the files, it writes to the header. I
presume it adds some information to the front that tells the tape
where the last backup began and ended. Seems to me that if this
operation was interupted, the newly appended backup would expected to
be lost but information on previous backups should not be wiped out.

That would depend on the contents of the header, which is up to the
software, not the tape drive.

Unfortunately the next time the tape was read it read as being blank.
The makers of the drive says it is Backup Exec's fault.

So far, all indications I've seen are that the makers of the drive are
correct. Either the hardware can read back all the blocks that Backup
Exec wrote to the drive (possibly excepting a few trashed blocks from
where the computer crashed) or it can't. If it can, any further
problems fall squarely on the backup software.

Perhaps it is but it never happened to me with any other brand drive
and at least one other person had the same experience back in 2001
with his VXA drive according to his archived post. And he was using
Retrospect, not Backup Exec. Seems strange that 2 different
software packages presented the same problem to 2 different users
and the only common denominator was that it was with the same brand drive.

Perhaps both users were making the same mistake, which is trying to
re-use a live critical tape without having another one they can fall
back to. You should never re-use a backup tape until you have a
useable backup on a different tape...


Just in case anyone is reading this thread, check this guys posts in
Google. Basically he is a troll. And if the VXA format is not
capable of reliable appended backups, that fact should be specified in
documentation.