This is a message about appending problems, you may have.

I am mis-using BackupExec and a LTO dirve as an archive, not as a backup.
So, I write once and store the tapes.

Appending goes very well, when you are writing lots of data for the first time.
When the tape is full, you are asked to put in a new one, and the writing continues.

You may have noticed, your second tape is not completely full.
So, next time you may decide you want to use it again, to append data to it. Fill it up, so to speak.

Now very often a problem occurs.
You start the backup job, put in the half filled tape.
Backup Exec keeps kicking the tape out, over and over again.
It will not accept this used tape to write on.

There is a solution to this problem!
You must group your media in backup exec.
This is called a media set.

1. On the navigation bar, click Media.
2. Under Media Set Tasks in the task pane, click New...

Backup Exec is a great application, my personal favorite. Recently I had issues with a backup, as you can see in one of my previous posts… the backup works fine, although compression will not turn on. It is known by most Backup Exec experts that Symantec Backup Exec enables compression when the job starts(if compression is configurable), but how do YOU know if Backup Exec is doing its job and possible the drive is to blame?

Well here is the answer, its called SGMON, its a debug tool that is used to view debugging information for Backup Exec components and services. SGMON is in “C:\Program Files\Symantec\Backup Exec\SGMON.exe for Backup Exec 12.5d installations. Earlier revisions its buried in the Symantec Backup Exec folder, best bet is to just search for sgmon.exe and you’ll find it easy enough.

Run SGMON, check off Job Engine; as below…
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