I am having trouble with my backup and would like some help.
I am having trouble with my backup and would like some help.
Specs:
Windows Server 2003 SP2
Backup Exec 12.0 SP4
Backing up an exchange store and about 150GB of folders and files in two jobs
Media: I am using Startech enclosures with Seagate 250GB SATA hard drives installed connected with a USB cable
Problem:
The problem is that i am getting an Access denied error during the backup of the exchange server and in the event log i am getting Disk Write failurs to the drive. When i arrive at work I cannot access the External HDD that i am using.
History:
I orded the software and the drives and set everying up about 2 years ago. Soon after setting it up I began getting, about once every two weeks, the Access Denied failures to the exchange store and I find a message on the server "disk write failure". The fix was a registry tweek that modified the Memory pool value and also i unchecked the "allow the computer to turn off this device" in the USB root. The problem went away for about 10 months.
Again the problem returned about one month ago. I get the same issues as before, but it started happening every other day. I ran SP4 on the servers and updated all the remote agents and again the problem went away for about one month.
This morning again the same issue, Disk Write failure, could not write page file is in the even logs and access denied to the message store is in the backup log.
I suspect it is the External hard drives, they are not of high quality, but they test just fine in most cases. A few have tested bad and one day I was on the server and just accessing the drive and boom, Disk Write failure while not even using the backup.
I have replace a few drives with Antec enclosures and WD Green HDD drives and they are working, But not sure if I should replace all the drives or is there another issue. My vendor says the Startech enclosures do not last long and he has quite selling them.
If anyone can help please let me know
Comments
It sounds to me like you are
It sounds to me like you are on the right track.
If there are any errors in the System Event log pointing to this device, then it is not Backup Exec that you should be investigating at that point. What specific enclosure are you using?
A bit of information about the WD Green drives; the throughput to these disks will not be as high as you may see on other devices, but that's a good thing if you're concerned about power consumption. They pull a lot less power and are great for storing data long-term. Western Digital makes other drives for fast access which are great if you have a shorter window for your backups to run in.
Yes, the WD green drives I
Yes, the WD green drives I was told run slower and are better then the faster drives I am not concerned about power consumption and the backup window is large. The green drives are actually working as fast as the current Seagate drives.
The Enclosures are from STARTECH and they are the cheapest you can purchase. I am also not happy with the Seagate drives they also look cheap. I will recommend replacing these drive and see what happens.
I am wondering if there is an issue with the Exchange backup that i am performing. I am using the granular backup and maybe it is writing to more data onto the disks then they can handle. Could this be the problem and if so what would be the fix.
Thanks for the help
Jeff
Replacement drives
I called the symantec technician and they suggested a external hard drive that has been tested and on the HCL.
I looked at the Hardware Compatibility list and did not find any External Hard drives. All i saw was a note on the first page that says anything that Windows will recognize will work for the software. The list contains about 500 tapes and tape drives to use, but no hard drives.
What External Hard drive should i use for this application or should i go back to using tapes again? Please let me know
I may consider two options to resolve the issue:
1: backup to the WD drive and move the backup to the STARTECH drives and see what happens
or
2: install a 500GB SAS drive on the server then move to one of the external drives daily.
Let me know what you think
thanks
Jeff
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