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Unable to read the backup tapes

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14 replies

by burst^capacitor

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My Nt file server is connected to Hp Surestore 5000 backup device. But I was surprised when I tried to get some files from previous backups made about a year ago, the tape was detected as a foreign tape. The backups was made by the previous IT staff, before I joined the company.
What causing this? I am able to read the backups that I made but not the old ones.

My server is running on NT4.0 (sp5.0)
Backup software: Cheyenne ArchServe
Backup device : HP Surestore 5000

Please Advice.
Thankyou.

14 replies

by Member 35772270

The backup may have been created by NT back instead of Cheyenne ArchServe, try the NTrestore utility. Backup Exec from Veritas is a good program also, but the demo version will not restore from an unknown backup source.

by drdon

You potentially have several issues. First, was the same tape drive used to backup the data? Second, did you use the same software to backup that you are using to restore? If you used Arcserve 6 and upgraded to 6.5 their is a compatibility issue between the tapes. Third, scan the tape in Arcserve and then merge it into the data base and see if it reads, of course the CA site support.cai.com might offer you so help to verify the patches needed to your version.

Of course if you are runningArcserveIT your format is incompatible and they admit it.

Sorry can't help more.

by flan

maybe they used different backup software back then. and are you sure is the same device a year ago? you should ask someone who was around back then

by nettek

Have you tried the "Merge Media" utility included with ArcServe? It enables ArcServe to read and restore backups that were completed on another tape drive or by a different ArcServe server. I am uncertain as to whether the utility will work if thebackup was created by a non-ArcServe backup utility.

by systemnt

Make sure that the old backup was made with FAT or NTFS file system, anything that you copy from an NTFS format & try to read the tape under a FAT or FAT32 or CDFS or HPFS will not work, NTFS format will only work with Windows NT Server or Workstation NT 4.0.
You can copy anything from a FAT to a FAT or FAT to NTFS but not NTFS to FAT only NTFS to NTFS.
Good Luck!
Rich

by burst^capacitor

The backup device and the software used previously is the same as what I am using now.
Only difference is the NT srvice pack. Previously it was SP3, but after I joined I updated it to SP5. Can this be the problem?

by james_randy

All those tough questions with all those good answers, and you still haven't responded. You must have lost this problem in your tape backup.

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