Data not compressing with ntbackup on Seagate STT8000A tape drive.

[jd]

I've enabled compression in the backup job but the jobs don't finish after
4gigs.
Set job to under 4gigs and all is well. How can I tell the firmware of the
STT8000A
in windows2000? If I just wing it and flash the firmware on the drive
anyways... do you think
windows2000 will behave?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

It's probably not an OS/NTBackup problem...compression depends on the
hardware/tape drive's capabilities. Did the tape drive come with any testing
utilities? You can usually test the compression settings therein....

 

[jd]

Thank you for replying. I too doubt ntbackup or the o/s. I'm trolling to
find the answer about determining the firmware version of the drive which is
not available for win2000 but oddly enough other earlier windows operating
systems can. The client lost the backup exec cd <sigh>. After some
research I found it may have something to do with SONY TR-4 tapes as well.
Will let you know.


"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Thank you for replying. I too doubt ntbackup or the o/s. I'm
trolling to find the answer about determining the firmware version of
the drive which is not available for win2000 but oddly enough other
earlier windows operating systems can. The client lost the backup
exec cd <sigh>. After some research I found it may have something to
do with SONY TR-4 tapes as well. Will let you know.

Hi - firmware is OS independent - I don't use Sony drives, but that still
applies. Let us know how you fare....

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"

It's probably not an OS/NTBackup problem...compression depends on the
hardware/tape drive's capabilities. Did the tape drive come with any
testing utilities? You can usually test the compression settings
therein....

 

[jd]

I learned that no ATAPI backup device can do hardware compression.
http://www.aplawrence.com/Bofcusm/1047.html

Backup software has to do the compressing.

The way to find the firmware version was found here:
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/234397.htm
They do have the latest firmware.

The only way they can get more data on the existing tapes is to use a backup
program like Backup Exec.
No such luck with ntbackup.
Using a larger tape won't work either because of incompatibilities.
Oh.... they were 3m Imation Tapes.
Now I get to sound like an expert. :-/
Thanks for all the help.

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"

Thank you for replying. I too doubt ntbackup or the o/s. I'm
trolling to find the answer about determining the firmware version of
the drive which is not available for win2000 but oddly enough other
earlier windows operating systems can. The client lost the backup
exec cd <sigh>. After some research I found it may have something to
do with SONY TR-4 tapes as well. Will let you know.

Hi - firmware is OS independent - I don't use Sony drives, but that still
applies. Let us know how you fare....

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"

It's probably not an OS/NTBackup problem...compression depends on the
hardware/tape drive's capabilities. Did the tape drive come with any
testing utilities? You can usually test the compression settings
therein....

 

[jd]

If I backup to a file... is the resulting .bkf file compressed?
Just thinking about backing up to file and then backing that file to tape.
<sigh>

I learned that no ATAPI backup device can do hardware compression.
http://www.aplawrence.com/Bofcusm/1047.html

Backup software has to do the compressing.

The way to find the firmware version was found here:
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/234397.htm
They do have the latest firmware.

The only way they can get more data on the existing tapes is to use a backup
program like Backup Exec.
No such luck with ntbackup.
Using a larger tape won't work either because of incompatibilities.
Oh.... they were 3m Imation Tapes.
Now I get to sound like an expert. :-/
Thanks for all the help.

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"

Thank you for replying. I too doubt ntbackup or the o/s. I'm
trolling to find the answer about determining the firmware version of
the drive which is not available for win2000 but oddly enough other
earlier windows operating systems can. The client lost the backup
exec cd <sigh>. After some research I found it may have something to
do with SONY TR-4 tapes as well. Will let you know.

Hi - firmware is OS independent - I don't use Sony drives, but that still
applies. Let us know how you fare....

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
message It's probably not an OS/NTBackup problem...compression depends on the
hardware/tape drive's capabilities. Did the tape drive come with any
testing utilities? You can usually test the compression settings
therein....