LTO5 media only recognized with half its capacity

[mfo]

[Support Case #: 00561031]

Hi,
we've been using tapes with veeam since they where supported. Our Tape Library is a Quantum SuperLoader 3 with LTO5.
Since two weeks, the capacity of our tapes is only recognized with 712.4GB instead of 1.3TB, which is the amount of uncompressed space on a LTO5 tape.
So I load an old tape for reuse into our tape library and it shows up with the full capacity of 1.3TB (probably taken from the database). When this tape is picked by our weekly backup, the capacity drops to 712.4GB.
Mysteriously, the media capacity is correct in the tape drive properties:


Erasing, inventorying, cataloging the tape did not solve the problem.
Compression is disabled in the library settings and in the veeam tape job settings.
Newest vendor drivers have been installed for Library and Tape Drive.

So I'm a bit puzzled...
Any ideas?

Best regards,
Christoph

[veremin]

What driver version you're using? Is it 3.7.0.1 by any chance? There is a bug in this version making software recognize tape capacity improperly. For now you can install previous driver version, this should fix the issue. Thanks.

[Pegasus05]

[Support Case: 00562796]

Hi Guys!

I have eactly the same problem. We're using a Quantum LTO5 HH tabletop standalone drive and started to use it since yesterday (new VBR installation, old drive). OS is Win 2012 R2, tape drive driver Version was updated to 3.7.0.1, VBR is v7.0.0.839.

After erasing the tape with VBR (new driver) its capacity was halfed. I changed the driver to Version 3.5.3.1 (This version was already in the list of drivers. I don't know how it got there, maybe Windows Update or OS provisioned).

Funny thing is, after changing the driver now even the "Quantum LTO 5 Tape Drive Properties" window (the one in the screenshot of Christoph) shows the tape to only have ~700 GB of capacity. Further erasing with VBR didn't change anything.

I used the Quantum "xTalk Management Console" to erase the tape by the function "Delete_Partitions_LTO5" (needs about 30 seconds). After that the "Drive Properties" window showed the correct capacity. VBR still listed ~700GB, but it hadn't refreshed yet. I erased the tape with VBR and - voila - it now shows as 1.3TB again. I will run a job tonight, let's see how it turns out.

Side note: When I still had driver Version 3.7.0.1 installed, you could see the Transition from 1.3TB to 700 GB happening. I used xTalk to reset the tape like shown above and then I erased the tape with VBR. While the erase-job was running you could see the capacity in the background first changing to 1.3 TB and then reverting back to 700 GB.

Best regards,
Alex

[mfo]

Thanks Vladimir,

I changed the tape driver back to the old version and now the full capacity is usable. (At least in the test job I created, will see this weekend if this works for our regular jobs, but I'm confident)

Best regards,
Christoph

[Pegasus05]

That solved it for me. Tape job ran perfectly tonight.
I informed Quantum support via their support form. Let's see what happens.

Thanks, Vladimir!

Best regards,
Alex

[veremin]

We've already informed Quantum about this issue. So, they should be aware about it. Hopefully, they will fix it sooner rather than later. Thanks.

[chillware]

Thanks Vladimir,

I changed the tape driver back to the old version and now the full capacity is usable. (At least in the test job I created, will see this weekend if this works for our regular jobs, but I'm confident)

Best regards,
Christoph

Hi there, do you happen to have link to the previous version of the driver for Win 2012 R2? The Quantum site only has the latest avail. Thanks!

[cfisher]

i'm having the same issue with the newer quantum LTO6 drive with both types of media either 5 or 6. can anyone supply me with an earlier driver?

[veremin]

Hi, Chris, you might want to contact Quantum representative and see whether they have earlier drivers. Thanks.

[mfo]

i'm having the same issue with the newer quantum LTO6 drive with both types of media either 5 or 6. can anyone supply me with an earlier driver?

Hi,
if you use Windows 2008R2and installed the new driver yourself, you can use the driver supplied with the OS. Just right click on your tape drive and select "Roll Back Driver". This brought back the old installed working version of the driver for me.

[mc625569]

FYI

Same issue. QUANTUM LTO 6 HH version C - drive brand new model - shipped 7.7.14. All tapes reported as half size in veeam.
Using Driver 3.7.0.1
WINDOWS 2012 r2
Veeam 7 patch 4

Called Quantum, they immediately sent me old drivers.
3.5.3
3.6
3.6.6

All of the old drivers caused veeam to be unable to inventory the tape at all the inventory job failed with "resources unavailable". When I try to erase the tape or try any tape operations, the server reboots.
As soon as we switch back to 3.7.0.1 the drive operates fine it just sees half the capacity of the tape.

Quantum has no answer , and is currently "escalating to tier 2" - we are going to return this drive, and as of right now should be in the list of INCOMPATIBLE devices for this software.

Erasing Tapes with XTALK or whatever tool is not a workable solution for us - easier to just return the drive and get a non quantum LTO 6 that actually works.

[veremin]

All of the old drivers caused veeam to be unable to inventory the tape at all the inventory job failed with "resources unavailable". When I try to erase the tape or try any tape operations, the server reboots.
As soon as we switch back to 3.7.0.1 the drive operates fine it just sees half the capacity of the tape.

In this case, it might be worth contacting our support team and letting them investigate it directly.

I can confirm that there has been a similar case previously. The guy was struggling with Quantum device showing only half capacity of tape mediums. However, once he downgraded drivers from 3.7.0.1 to lower version, everything started to work properly.

Thanks.

[mc625569]

UPdate - Quantum LTO 6 Model c is NOT currently compatible with veeam . Rolling back drivers will not work with this model. Veeam level 2 support has suggested I get another drive.
You cannot roll back drivers with this drive, it won't work.

Can someone point me to a list of lto6 standalone drives that are confirmed working with veeam? I have to return mine.

[veremin]

Can you provide your support ticket number, so that, I can discuss the issue with the QA team? Thanks.

[Someblood]

Hello,

Same problem: Veeam Support - Case # 00614300
Could you boost the Veeam french support, 2 weeks without backup to tape.
Thanks

[veremin]

And what is the current version of drivers you're using? Thanks.

[danas]

What driver version you're using? Is it 3.7.0.1 by any chance? There is a bug in this version making software recognize tape capacity improperly. For now you can install previous driver version, this should fix the issue. Thanks.

Is there anything specifically needed to get a previously misread tape to show the correct size again? I have downgraded the driver to 3.6.0.5 but Veeam still only reports the Tape at half capacity. I have also removed the tape from the catelog and added it back to the free pool, I also did a simple erase on it but it is still not reading correctly. Please advise. Thanks!!

Dana

[veremin]

I our labs we've seen the problem to be specifically related to said driver version. Once drives had been downgraded, everything started to work properly. As you can see above, old version also helped some of our customers with the similar problem. You can open a ticket with our support team, and I will ask QA team to take a look at it.

Thanks.

[Terrum]

I've got similar problem: Veeam v7 latest build can see only about half (712GB) of LTO-5 media full capacity. I opened a ticket and first thing they said it's a known bug in Veeam and if I have driver 3.7.0.1, I should go back to previous version. Well, I rolled back to previous version and now with driver 3.5.3.1 Veeam shows only 679GB total for an LTO-5 tape - that's even less than with driver 3.7.0.1 !!!

This issue was first reported over three months ago, perhaps even earlier, and IMHO it's not really something one can call "minor" issue. I'm pretty sure that all affected customers would be very happy to see a hotfix or a patch fixing this bug made available by now. Even if that means waiting a week or two longer for Veeam v8 release!

My ticket # 00622027

Thanks!

[TBone]

Having just bought LTO5 tapes, I have discovered the same issue. I know it was asked before, but how do we download the previous version of the drivers?

[Gostev]

Please contact Quantum support for drives issues and downloads.

[veremin]

This issue was first reported over three months ago, perhaps even earlier, and IMHO it's not really something one can call "minor" issue. I'm pretty sure that all affected customers would be very happy to see a hotfix or a patch fixing this bug made available by now. Even if that means waiting a week or two longer for Veeam v8 release!

As mentioned previously, most of this issues are related to a bug introduced in the recent version of drivers. Thus, there is little we can do in this case. The typical resolution allowing our customers to get rid of that issues is to downgrade drivers. If that doesn't help in your case, kindly, keep working with the support team.

Thanks.

[TBone]

I got the 3.6.0.6 drivers for Server 2012R2 from Quantum's website and installed them. No help, still having the same issue. That's all the help I could get from Quantum.

[tsightler]

You may need to fully erase the tape, including any crated partitions. LTO5 and greater media support the concept of partitions similar to the way disk include partitions. If the tape was recognized at the lower capacity, it might have formatted a partition of that capacity. Then even if you change the driver so that it detects correctly, Veeam will only see the formatted capacity of the device.

After reverting to the older driver please follow the exact steps as noted in this specific post and report if you continue to experience the issue.

[TBone]

After deleting the partitions with xTalk, the tape capacity didn't change. However the backup job ran normally last night and the capacity changed on the tape that was used. It also was fixed on another tape by doing a full erase, although that took over an hour.

[tsightler]

Did you re-inventory the tapes after you deleted the partitions with xTalk? Veeam likely wouldn't know about the change in capacity until the next time it stuck them in a drive.

[Terrum]

I've got mine fixed only after calling Dell Enterprise Support (my Quantum LTO5 tape drive is part of Dell PV124T library). Full media capacity recovery instructions to save your time:

1. Stop Veeam B&R services
2. Run xTalk as Administrator (unless you disabled UAC on your system)
3. Run "Device Health Check" - this procedure will write 40GB of raw data on the tape currently loaded in the drive effectively erasing any data including any screwed up partitions (you will have to repeat this step for all tapes that were exposed to Veeam while your system was running 3.7.0.1 driver)
4. Start Veeam services, open B&R console and run Inventory Tape task - when done, you should see media capacity changed back to normal (1.4TB for LTO5)

Keep in mind that this is for Quantum drive and you already restored previous driver (3.5.3.1 in my case) prior to following these steps, otherwise Veeam will partition your tape with half capacity again. Good luck!

[veremin]

Great feedback, indeed. Thank you for sharing!

[mfo]

On step 3.), instead of writing 40GB to the tape, you can also just delete the partition with the "Delete_Partitions_LTO5"-Function. This worked for me every time with my bad tapes.

[Terrum]

On step 3.), instead of writing 40GB to the tape, you can also just delete the partition with the "Delete_Partitions_LTO5"-Function. This worked for me every time with my bad tapes.

Yes, using this function would be a big time saver indeed, but it's not available in the version of xTalk (6.4.1.5) included with drivers/firmware upgrade package from my vendor (Dell)...

If you see "Delete_Partitions_LTO5" function in your xTalk, what version is it and where from did you get it?