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#21
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#22
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You might be interested in reading this link:
http://www.mail-archive.com/retro-ta.../msg02793.html It is a post from Ecrix (the previous manufacturer of VXA drives) and describes the unusual way VXA drives handle power and other interruptions. Seems to me that the intended improvement could be causing the problem. As far as Backup Exec causing the problem, I doubt it. Since it recognized that an error occurred and displayed an error message, I doubt it was writing anything further to the tape. People do appended backups all the time. I've only heard of 2 cases where doing so effectively wiped out the contents of a tape. In both cases a VXA drive was being used. |
#24
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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. |
#25
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#26
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If you are considering a VXA tape drive from exabyte (formerly ecrix)
you should be aware of a fatal flaw. Even though ads show a tape soaking in a cup of coffee and a claim that the data is still recoverable, the tape header is extremely fragile. If you are doing a backup and the computer freezes and requires a hardboot as the header Rule #1 - one tape, one backup (do not put mutiple backups on one tape) Rule #2 - one backup, one tape (buy a big enough tape drive for your backup) Rule #3 - use multiple backup devices like hard drives in addition to your tape drive - that way the single point of failure (the tape) will not kill you We use a weekly backup to a VXA-2 tape drive in addition to three 200 GB hard drives that are daily backed up to on the network. Only one of the hard drives is on the file server. Lynn |
#27
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#28
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"Lynn McGuire" wrote in message ...
If you are considering a VXA tape drive from exabyte (formerly ecrix) you should be aware of a fatal flaw. Even though ads show a tape soaking in a cup of coffee and a claim that the data is still recoverable, the tape header is extremely fragile. If you are doing a backup and the computer freezes and requires a hardboot as the header Rule #1 - one tape, one backup (do not put mutiple backups on one tape) Rule #2 - one backup, one tape (buy a big enough tape drive for your backup) Rule #3 - use multiple backup devices like hard drives in addition to your tape drive - that way the single point of failure (the tape) will not kill you We use a weekly backup to a VXA-2 tape drive in addition to three 200 GB hard drives that are daily backed up to on the network. Only one of the hard drives is on the file server. Lynn So if your building burns down goodbye data. By the way, some of the obnoxious posts here assumed my data was life or death, etc, etc, etc. It was not. Life or death data is on a mirrored file server and backed up to tape. This data was from a workstation. According to statistics passed around by magazines, 80% of companies don't backup workstations at all. I did. And it concerns me that somehow when a backup was appended to media, the end result was the loss of all previous backups. Been using Backup Exec for almost 2 decades and never have seen it before. And for many years that was using some very primitive drives from Colorado, Conner, and others. VXA promotes itself as more reliable than others yet magically a tape is wiped out. And mine wasn't the only one according to the 2001 post by a Retrospect user. |
#29
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Paul Rubin wrote in message ...
(Arthur Begun) writes: And if the VXA format is not capable of reliable appended backups, that fact should be specified in documentation. For about the fifth time, the backup you were doing was not an appended backup, so stop calling it one. I call it what it is. Backup Exec and other programs give you a choice between APPEND or OVERWRITE. It was an APPEND. If you don't like it, complain to them. |
#30
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