I hate Backup Exec

[TEX4S]

For the last couple of months I have been dealing with Backup Exec 2010.

I dont know very much about it, but have been given the task of recover all of our old media (tapes) which were created with earlier versions of BK EX.

Some of these tapes date back to 2001 - they are all written on 35GB DLT.

My question is: When I insert a tape, I run the inventory - all is OK. I then run Catalog - all is OK.

Then I run a restore job - redirect the dump to a large 2TB HDD - soon thereafter the job will fail.

The error I get is " the requested media was mounted, but it does not contain the requested backup set. The media may have been overwritten by another media server."

I read a little about the error - and in layman's terms - "... if a backup was created with another version of BK EX, then was moved to another server with a different version of BK EX - and NOW you're running a different version ---- you're screwed !"

Is there a way to simply take the data from our old tapes and simply dump them into a folder which can be easily read, and saved, etc. ?

Everything I have read about Backup Exec is that it can only be spawned from hell because no other way it can suck so bad and cause so much frustration - and just when you think you have it ficgured out - it stops working

Thanks

[+Byt Subscriber¹]

Is it a legit version of Backup Exec? if so... call their support, they are actually pretty good over the phone.

I personally would try and find out what version of backup exec the backups were made with and reinstall that version just to get the data off.

[TEX4S]

Is it a legit version of Backup Exec? if so... call their support, they are actually pretty good over the phone.

I personally would try and find out what version of backup exec the backups were made with and reinstall that version just to get the data off.

Wario -

Thanks for the reply. Yes this is a legit version - this is for work & we have had a license every year.

Ya know I never even considered calling as most of the time customer support is an absolute joke. According to your post - I guess enterprise-level support is altogether different.

I will give that a try - we purchased some online tech center knowledge base that was $50 - it was a joke and nothing but a selling platform for their $3000 class.

My plan is to get all of our archives on a couple 2TB discs then change our entire backup environment to something that doesnt suck so bad -

My next task is to find some damned good enterprise-level software that works...

[RiverCampher]

Ouch looks like someone in IT didn't test their backups! Before blaming the application itself for a known incompatibility issue you have to ask if it's something that should of been tested before upgrading the version...

I guess you're unable to get a hold of this older version to restore the data? I've used this app myself without any issues (although people do mislabel the tapes which drove me nuts!).

[+Byt Subscriber¹]

Wario -

Thanks for the reply. Yes this is a legit version - this is for work & we have had a license every year.

Ya know I never even considered calling as most of the time customer support is an absolute joke. According to your post - I guess enterprise-level support is altogether different.

I will give that a try - we purchased some online tech center knowledge base that was $50 - it was a joke and nothing but a selling platform for their $3000 class.

My plan is to get all of our archives on a couple 2TB discs then change our entire backup environment to something that doesnt suck so bad -

My next task is to find some damned good enterprise-level software that works...

I only use it in a small business entiroment my friend, not enterprise.

Where are you located? we have a contacts list at work with direct numbers for people at Symantec, i can try and get you a direct number if you like?

[sc302 Veteran]

Enterprise level support is ok. Not what it used to be, but worth a call anyway. Very much like microsoft where they own the problem until resolved. The last few times I have called I have been transferred to a tier 2 engineer right away, but I think that is because of my environment. Oh and if you don't have a maintanence agreement you can forget about talking to them. If you want alternatives to backup exec let me know....I know of at least 2 that aren't as costly and seems to have come a long way.

Remember it could always be worse, you could be using arcserve....their tech support is a joke, they will sell their product but they will not support it. You say you ran a backup but you cant restore, well to bad for you buy our next version you can restore with the old version O_o.

Can I ask a really crazy question....why on earth are you trying to get the tapes from 2001 to function? 5 years is normal retention for a business.

[TEX4S]

sc302 -

Guess what our new tape system is ?? You guessed it - Arcserv 12

Well, I honestly dont know why on earth it has to go back so far -- I work @ the US HQ which is in Dallas - our parent company is in Denmark - they call the shots when it comes to overall strategies, etc.

Not 2 weeks ago we renewed our Arcserv maint. contract. But this Backup Exec is my issue - and its a ridiculous piece of garbage.

It says it is created, by design, to not let you restore something that was kinda "bounced from version to version" - well sh*t happens in business - and you need to be able to recover data in all kinds of scenarios.

Why on earth has this product been bounced around from company to company ? Veritas > Seagate > Symantec

Luckily my boss, the IT Director, knows this program is problematic and is happy I am learning as fast as I am - so he isnt on me about not producing some kind of old data...

Anyone know of a process to recover old data, "media be damned" ? just say "here is an old tape.. I want to see whats on it " ? Surely there is a workaround in this crap ?!?

I hope

We could pay some company about $5000 to do it for us - but its towards the end of the fiscal year and there is no more $ -

[sc302 Veteran]

My deepest condolences on Arcserve, I have found it better to write your data in dirt and then try to retrieve the data after a monsoon has washed away what you wrote than trying to get arcserve to do anything useful....you think backup exec is bad....when you get to the point where you tell the engineers to shove their software up their asses you will be in my boat (I believe that was my exact words...have yet to say that to any symantec engineer, I may have said that their software sux but I have never told them to shove it up their ass, there may have been other colorful statements coming out of my mouth but that was the main thing I remember telling the asshat who told me to pack up my machine and send it to them so they can duplicate/troubleshoot the issue, I now refuse to call their support when I have an issue with that software) When seagate owned backup exec it was built off the premise that NT backup could restore the files if needed. Veritas screwed backup exec after they bought it, then symantec screwed it even more.

Enough about that....call up symantec and maybe they can give you some advice to be able to move on. There is a work around....install the old version on a different system, attach your old drive to that system and have at it. Try using NT backup (the backup utility that comes with windows) and see if it can read/restore the files...if it is old enough it should be capable of it.

[TEX4S]

Thanks man - I will try the NT backup method - then call if all else fails

I LOL'd at your comments - even read it to a co-worker who has an office next to mine -

Im trying to get people to feel my pain.

Thanks Again

[sc302 Veteran]

Thanks man - I will try the NT backup method - then call if all else fails

I LOL'd at your comments - even read it to a co-worker who has an office next to mine -

Im trying to get people to feel my pain.

Thanks Again

Arcserve = spawn of the devil

Symantec = spawn of Diablo

not sure which is better.

[TEX4S]

sc302 -

well I guess I can put a small positive spin on this -

I just realized ArcVault and arcserve are 2 completely different things

we have an arcvault12 from Overland Storage which is our 12 cassette autoloader.

arcserve - is a nightmare I dont have to face....yet

Also - I just found our Experts Exchange.com membership login - so I have another method of support.

Now if I can just pay someone to do this for me......hmmm........:shifty:

[vanx]

First of all, please calm down. I know how frustrating it can be as I have to deal with lots of backups for a living and fix things when other people break them.

Anyway, if you go ahead and raise a support call, please PM me the number. If I am not mistaken, you are based in the US, so your Backup Exec support would come out of Symantec's Heathrow, FL site. That's where the product is engineered and it makes sense for tech support to be cozy next to people who code the thing. If support are getting you nowhere, I have contacts there -- duty manager, tech support guys -- whom I can get in touch with to get your case to a principal/senior tech support engineer.

Also, worth having a look at this tech note: Click Here. Sounds a lot like the situation you're describing -- can you confirm?

[TEX4S]

First of all, please calm down. I know how frustrating it can be as I have to deal with lots of backups for a living and fix things when other people break them.

Anyway, if you go ahead and raise a support call, please PM me the number. If I am not mistaken, you are based in the US, so your Backup Exec support would come out of Symantec's Heathrow, FL site. That's where the product is engineered and it makes sense for tech support to be cozy next to people who code the thing. If support are getting you nowhere, I have contacts there -- duty manager, tech support guys -- whom I can get in touch with to get your case to a principal/senior tech support engineer.

Also, worth having a look at this tech note: Click Here. Sounds a lot like the situation you're describing -- can you confirm?

deep breath ----- ooooosssaaaahhhhhhhh oooossaaaahhhhhhh

ok - Thanks vanx

I will try calling them tomorrow as its almost 5:00 > Thanks for your offer - I know I'll be using your advice - damned nice of ya' to lend a hand. ;)

To answer your question - yes that is the exact error I get on several different tapes.

But the scenario mentioned does not describe our situation. Which was:

tapes made with old version - now we want to extract the data and dump it to a 2TB external - regardless of readable format. - that simple

nearly every tape says that it is missing or has been overwritten.... weird.

I say nearly because I was successful on 2 restore jobs within the last 4 hours - making my boss think Im a god :D

Is it just me or is this software incredibly confusing because it sucks, or because enterprise stuff has to be confusing and complex to justify the prices ? meh

Thanks for your help man, I appreciate it. - oh and X-Files was the best show on TV. Ever. (minus the last 2-3 years)

[vanx]

deep breath ----- ooooosssaaaahhhhhhhh oooossaaaahhhhhhh

ok - Thanks vanx

I will try calling them tomorrow as its almost 5:00 > Thanks for your offer - I know I'll be using your advice - damned nice of ya' to lend a hand. ;)

To answer your question - yes that is the exact error I get on several different tapes.

But the scenario mentioned does not describe our situation. Which was:

tapes made with old version - now we want to extract the data and dump it to a 2TB external - regardless of readable format. - that simple

nearly every tape says that it is missing or has been overwritten.... weird.

I say nearly because I was successful on 2 restore jobs within the last 4 hours - making my boss think Im a god :D

Is it just me or is this software incredibly confusing because it sucks, or because enterprise stuff has to be confusing and complex to justify the prices ? meh

Thanks for your help man, I appreciate it. - oh and X-Files was the best show on TV. Ever. (minus the last 2-3 years)

Hey TEX4S,

No problem mate, glad to help.

Regarding your scenario -- is it possible that a backup that you're trying to restore spans multiple tapes? I recently had to do a bit of work for a client where a backup spanned several tapes. In that case, all relevant tapes were needed to be imported before proceeding with restoring data. The tape holding the first fragment of a backup is crucial as, without it, it's not possible to restore.

Also, what is the version of Backup Exec (BUE) that was used to do the original backups to DLT media? You mentioning 2001 suggests that it's 8.x or earlier as v9 wasn't released until 2003. What is the version of BUE that you're trying to use to restore to a 2TB volume?

Can you also please confirm that you're simply trying to restore data from tapes that were written by an earlier version of BUE? Were they or were they not used for other backups since 2001? If they were, then it is quite possible that data you're trying to recover from 2001 backups has been partially/completely overwritten.

It is also possible that some backups that were taken using an earlier version of BUE had version-specific features enabled. If those features were not carried forward to your newer version of BUE then it is possible that meta-data read in during the import may not be mapped correctly.

Customers whose retention periods dictated that data has to be kept for many years always give me headaches. A lot of them tend not to move data onto new forms of storage -- and thus test restores by staging data on disk before writing it to newer tapes -- they simply wait until the lightning strikes.

Let me know how you get on with support :)

[TEX4S]

Thanks again vanx - you're exactly right -almost all of our backups take up multiple tapes. According to what you said, I will Inventory and catalog everything before attempting a restore job. Thanks for that !

Our reader has a dirty read/write head so until our cleaning tapes come in - I am not doing anything with Backup Exec.

Now I have find some company that wants to buy 120 ThinkPads :rofl:

[remixedcat]

what are the specs? I'd like one if the specs are right for the money. I want a cheap laptop for trips and stuff. PM me. Also PM me the experts-exchange link I know 2 experts there that are awesome with symantec products!

[vanx]

Thanks again vanx - you're exactly right -almost all of our backups take up multiple tapes. According to what you said, I will Inventory and catalog everything before attempting a restore job. Thanks for that !

Our reader has a dirty read/write head so until our cleaning tapes come in - I am not doing anything with Backup Exec.

You are welcome. It would be nice to be able to restore data from just one tape in a set if you don't have others, but that's just not the way the backup process works.

Let me know how you get on after you clean things up.

[TEX4S]

Thanks vanx -

My boneheaded intern managed to wipe out a 2TB drive which was to be put on tape backup on our new system - when I get back to the office and pull my foot out of his a** I'll give you some updates - you have been great man - I feel like I need to pay you for your time :blush:

remixed - I'd love to help but I dont want to sell these piece by piece - Im looking for a company to buy all of them at once - sorry

[sw1tch..]

Arcserve = spawn of the devil

Symantec = spawn of Diablo

not sure which is better.

ARCServe is the worst backup software I have ever dealt with. Period. Today it burnt about 4 hours of my time. I seriously hate it. Wow ARCServe! :s

[TEX4S]

ARCServe is the worst backup software I have ever dealt with. Period. Today it burnt about 4 hours of my time. I seriously hate it. Wow ARCServe! :s

sw1tch - let me send you my intern and he can waste even more of your time !! He is going to be a Junior @ Texas A&M in Comp Sci and has to tell me at least 10x a day about how Microsoft is evil and he will change our billion dollar company over to all linux - I just say "shut up and go get my dry cleaning you idiot !" :D well - I do tell him to shut up

[sw1tch..]

sw1tch - let me send you my intern and he can waste even more of your time !! He is going to be a Junior @ Texas A&M in Comp Sci and has to tell me at least 10x a day about how Microsoft is evil and he will change our billion dollar company over to all linux - I just say "shut up and go get my dry cleaning you idiot !" :D well - I do tell him to shut up

Haha classic! I spent 4 hours because my stupid Helpdesk deleted the schedules when doing a restore job and if you don't set them up in a particular way it will not eject the tape. Did I say I hated it. Yes I believe I did :rofl:

[vanx]

Thanks vanx -

My boneheaded intern managed to wipe out a 2TB drive which was to be put on tape backup on our new system - when I get back to the office and pull my foot out of his a** I'll give you some updates - you have been great man - I feel like I need to pay you for your time :blush:

No problem, happy to help. That said, all contributions are gratefully received :) Would be nice to know what company you're working for though (PM, if you can). Not so I can point my finger and laugh, just curious.

[TEX4S]

OK - now comes my weekly "is this possible, and if so, how ?"

I have moved the Backup Exec 2010 & the old Quantum DLT tape loader over to a newer server which happens to be the server that is connected to our arcVault tape switcher.

I am wondering if its possible to "convert" all of our old DLT tapes over to LTO ?

Instead of having to restore all of the old DLT stuff (with missing tapes) to a HDD somewhere, then back that up to our LTO tape autoloader - can I just move/convert them on the fly ?

Thanks Again -

[vanx]

OK - now comes my weekly "is this possible, and if so, how ?"

I have moved the Backup Exec 2010 & the old Quantum DLT tape loader over to a newer server which happens to be the server that is connected to our arcVault tape switcher.

I am wondering if its possible to "convert" all of our old DLT tapes over to LTO ?

Instead of having to restore all of the old DLT stuff (with missing tapes) to a HDD somewhere, then back that up to our LTO tape autoloader - can I just move/convert them on the fly ?

Thanks Again -

First things first -- what kind of DLT (SDLT I/II, S4, etc) and LTO media (2/3/4/5) do you mean? Also, how do you plan on doing this? Simply cloning one tape onto another could give you lots of wasted space on your LTO media as it generally has bigger capacity.

Yes, it is possible to "convert" your DLT tapes to LTO. There are even specialist firms that are in business of doing that.

If you wish to use Backup Exec to do this conversion, you would need to catalog data from all of those DLT tapes. Then, create a duplicate job for catalogued backup sets with LTO drive(s) as target.

Let me know how you get on :)

[sc302 Veteran]

ARCServe is the worst backup software I have ever dealt with. Period. Today it burnt about 4 hours of my time. I seriously hate it. Wow ARCServe! :s

please call up their support and tell them to shove their software up their ass so that I am not the only one. :p

tell them you are going with a backup that works most of the time (backup exec)....until you get some crap error that has a general answer like we are sorry your backup failed today, for some reason we can't backup this file perhaps tomorrow will be better for you.

I wish computer associates a firey death into a black hole while each and every tech is hung by their balls....bunch of tards running that place. I can only imagine breaks by the water cooler with everyone drooling and staring at each other, each with a case of parkinsons. fking retarded morons can't even draw a line much less do any sort of mathematics to make a program that runs right...I would love to drop a nuke (or several) on their door step taking out any and all bystanders that could or do work for that place....they all need death.

[sc302 Veteran]

sw1tch - let me send you my intern and he can waste even more of your time !! He is going to be a Junior @ Texas A&M in Comp Sci and has to tell me at least 10x a day about how Microsoft is evil and he will change our billion dollar company over to all linux - I just say "shut up and go get my dry cleaning you idiot !" :D well - I do tell him to shut up

When he is about, oh, 40 or so he will realize Microsoft is money hungry not evil. Microsoft does make a good product, although sometimes they do release crap as do every corporation in any industry where there is significant change between models/products/years. Look at the big Toyota flop or any car manufacturer. If you don't load you pc up with crap/trials/pirated software it actually runs as expected. Many microsoft servers are up for months at a time and the only time they go down is due to updates. True *nix doesn't need to go down as frequently and just runs, but it isn't really a gui that stays running constantly now is it? Server 2008 has an option to run in core mode (no gui) but requires the admin to really know and understand the power shell, and I believe many things server are going to the powershell to be able to function....exchange is hybrid (needs ps to function, some things have been stripped from the gui, and can use gui to run certain admin functions..but everything can be done in the ps).