Tech support question

[Andrewtaylor]

Hi,

I would post this under Technical Support but for some reason it says I have to be a moderator to do that?

Scenario;

- Fresh install of Windows Server 2003 Standard 64bit (never had any other backup software installed. All windows updates completed).
- Sony AIT 40gb SATA Tape drive (latest drivers from Sony website installed) Model SDX-470

Backupassist will not detect any tape drive installed in the system.

[Andrew]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for your post, this is Andrew from BackupAssist support.

I am sorry for the problem in posting, I am not sure what happened but assure you that it has now been rectified.

Although BackupAssist is compatible with 64 bit versions of Windows, there is one known issue that relates to tape drive detection. We have resolved this issue for the next version, v4, but in the meantime, there is an easy workaround for this issue.

If you were planning on backing up to a tape drive with BackupAssist on Win2003 x64, you would need to follow the steps below:

1. Open BackupAssist and go to the Options tab.
2. Select 'Tape' as your backup location, then click on the link for Advanced Tape Drive Settings link.
3. Remove all of the ticks from the checkboxes in the popup screen, then click OK.
4. Manually type in the name and media pool for your tape device in the respective fields - tips on where to obtain these values here: http://www.backupassist.com/HTMLHelp/Ti ... gs2000.htm

After doing the above you can configure the job to run as required and should have no trouble running the backup. I believe the reason for this issue is due to the platform version 3 of BackupAssist has been written in. The next version has an updated platform which supports 64-bit commands.

Please be aware that although the above workaround will allow you to back using BackupAssist, you will not be able to use the tape preparation function on the Tools tab. If you need to prepare any new tapes you will need to do this through the RSM directly.

I hope this helps, but please let me know if you have any questions.