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Connecting old LTo-4 Tape drive - Tape Backup Software doesn't see drive (alien.top)

submitted 10 months ago by Flat_Honeydew@alien.top to c/datahoarder@selfhosted.forum

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Guys I need some help. Hope this is alright to post here since it’s old tech and I’ve seen most post on Reddit regarding old LTO tape drives drives in this thread. By the way I love this channel.

So I think I got in over my head with setting up an old external LT0-4 Tape drive.

I know they are older. Some will argue they aren’t useful….I like the idea of tape drives although maybe impractical I wanted to mess around with one for backing up some data. Mind you this isn’t part of the my 1 , 2, 3 backup plan.

Computer is a Dell OptiPlex 790 (circa 2011-12) with Windows 10 pro installed.

SCSI card. LSI Logic. [Specs: LSI Logic SCSI LVD/SE Controller PCI Express x4 LSI20320IE 439946-001]

Tape Drive. Tandberg LTO4 Drive HH external

[Specs: Tandberg data LTO 4, Half height external drive. Model 3503-LTO, manufactured 2009]

On boot up the SCSI card shows that it detects the Tape drive. HBA 0

[from screen: ID #2 Tandberg drive. ID #7 LSI Logic card, sync 320, Wide 16]

All looks ok. Boots into windows.

Windows Natively detects the tape drive.

I then installed the OEM drivers for windows 10.

I have a copy of the HPE library tape utilities program

It scans and detects the drive. I can see the drive history and do a tape read write test which is successful. No errors are seen that jump out to me.

Of note that software mentions “Tape drive is NOT claimed by NT and

Removable Storage Manager (RSM) Service does not exist, Insight management agents not install"

It is my understand that HP or IBM make these drives so that is why I used the software.

All Dell system software updates have been done, chipset updates, bios.

No errors in device manager.

Device manager shows Tape Drive listed under “Tape Drive” heading.

I’ve tried numerous backup software and none of them recognize the tape drive. Tried in this order, and uninstalled after the drive wasn't recognized.

Veeam Backup, Acronis Cyber protect home, Veritas backup Exec, Macrium reflect, EaseUS todo backup and AOMEI Backup. All installed without issue in admin install mode, and ran in admin mode.

None of those when you load it show the tape as a backup destination option.

I went thru all the tape software settings and don’t see anything I’m missing at my naïve glance.

Of note I’ve tried the software also on Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 SP1 Server. For these OS’s either the software didn’t work, they did not support the OS flavor and wouldn’t install, or would work and then not recognize the drive.

Would love any feedback and suggestions.

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[–] Gian_Ramirez@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

"You may want to double check the connection cables (disconnect and reconnect).
Also make sure you have the latest drivers for the tape drive installed on your system.
There may be conflicts with other programs on your system that are interfering with the backup software's recognition of the tape drive. Try temporarily disabling security or anti-virus programs to see if this resolves the problem.
Sometimes tape drives need to be configured in a specific way to be recognized by backup software. Try installing Uranium Backup Pro Tape: https://www.uranium-backup.com/tutorials/how-to-perform-a-tape-backup-with-uranium/
Good luck!"

[–] Flat_Honeydew@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Thank you very much for the suggestions.

I checked the connections, all looks ok. Did start using a Win 2008 Server driver (was using Vista). Looks like it didn't help though. Good idea though as I had forgot about trying other ones assuming it was ok.

I did a fresh install of Win 10 home again. Disabled Antivirus. Didn't fix it unfortunately :(

I did try Uranium backup but it only supports Tape after purchase. I just checked again on the website and it says trail for tape pro. So I'll try that again if its a different install.

[–] HPE_Support@alien.top 1 points 9 months ago

@Flat_Honeydew

When you say "I then installed the OEM drivers for windows 10"

Did you download it from Tandberg website ? What if you uninstall the drivers check. As some of the backup sw use their own drivers or will not be able to access drives which are un-claimed by the Miniport. As a part of troubleshooting. Check the StorPort driver version installed on your system and upgrade it if possible. For Windows, the storport driver gets installed only when the OS installed for the first time.

Since this is a non-HPE Drive. I will not be in a position to provide more details on other possibilities. Hope this helps.

Thank you for contacting HPE.