tape backup software

[badgolferman]

I have a W2K server machine with a Sony tape backup drive. I have
Veritas Exec bakup 9.0 but don't like using it. Is there a freeware
equivilent or do any of the backup programs on PLHome work with tape
backup?

 

[Curt]

I have a W2K server machine with a Sony tape backup drive. I have
Veritas Exec bakup 9.0 but don't like using it. Is there a freeware
equivilent or do any of the backup programs on PLHome work with tape
backup?

Why don't you like Backup Exec? I use it at many sites and find it very
stable and reliable - FAR better than ARCserve.

 

[badgolferman]

Why don't you like Backup Exec? I use it at many sites and find it
very stable and reliable - FAR better than ARCserve.

Well, for one thing I am having trouble reusing existing tapes. Even
though the tape has been formatted and you can see nearly 50 GB of free
space, it won't allow me to write to it anymore. Perhaps you might
know what's wrong.

Also I would prefer to send files in a standard format or perhaps even
..zip format to the tape backup, kind of like an additional drive.
Somehow I suspect that isn't possible, is it?

 

[Curt]

Well, for one thing I am having trouble reusing existing tapes. Even

though the tape has been formatted and you can see nearly 50 GB of free
space, it won't allow me to write to it anymore. Perhaps you might
know what's wrong.

What type of tape drive are you using? Also, check to see if you
automatically get the upgrade from 9.0 to 9.1.

Also I would prefer to send files in a standard format or perhaps even
.zip format to the tape backup, kind of like an additional drive.
Somehow I suspect that isn't possible, is it?

Most modern tape drives support hardware compression. If yours doesn't
support that, you can turn on Software compression in BE (it's under
Settings-->General in the backup properties). I use DLT drives so I just
use Hardware compression.