How can retrospect be forced into filling an entire tape after it asks for the next tape in the seri

[daviddrescher1]

Questions:

1) How can retrospect be forced into filling an entire tape after it asks for the next tape in the series?

2) How can partially filled tapes be combined to make a full single tape?

 

 

In Retrospect 6.5.x, selecting backup sets, properties of each member, shows that most members, named after the weekdays, each have one tape about 65G of 180 G full.

 

Only the Wednesday set keeps asking for a new member each time the tape has about 20G. Interestingly, the 3 Wednesday tapes add up to about 65G.

 

Yesterday, Retrospect asked for yet a 4th tape to be added to the Wednesday set.

 

This problem, to a lesser extent (stopped at 2 tapes) has happened on one other set but seems to have resolved itself. david@sampersfinancial.com

[natew]

Hi

 

By default Retrospect writes to the physical end of the media before it asks for a new tape. The only time it would stop halfway on a tape is when the tape is damaged or there was a communication error that made Retrospect think the tape was damaged.

 

It could be a case of the tape drive "outrunning" the data as it comes in from the source machine. What tape drive and media are you using? What is the CPU/RAM configuration of the backup machine. Do you backup the same sources every day?

 

Thanks

Nate

[daviddrescher1]

Nate,

 

Back up device: Exabyte VXA2 tape drive with 180G tapes from Exabyte.

 

CPU / RAM: Duel Xenon 2.2G HZ with 2.5 Gig of RAM.

 

We run two backups a day with the same source - A local hard drive and one client on the same subnet.

 

David

[natew]

Hi

 

If this is a SCSI device make sure you have disabled the Windows drivers for the tape drive. You can also try installing ASPI using the ASPIINST.exe tool located in the Retrospect program folder. What kind of backup performance do the Retrospect logs show? What SCSI card do you have and how is it set up in BIOS?

 

Nate

[daviddrescher1]

Nate,

 

Device manager shows that a driver is not installed.

 

The backup rate is ~350 Meg/Min

 

Please explain ASPI.

 

SCSI card is a 29160 Adaptec.

 

What are the different options for setting up the SCSI card in BIOS?

[natew]

Hi,

 

ASPI is an alternate method for communicating with the device. In some situations is can be faster than NT passthrough. You can install ASPI using the ASPIINST.EXE program in the Retrospect folder.

 

There are a bunch of speed and autonegotiation settings you can set in the SCSI BIOS. Adaptec's support site will have details on all of them.

 

Thanks,

Nate