I've had great success with running NT 4.0 backups from scripts, but have never been able to do it on 2000 server. There seem to be more requirements as far as media and pool names, and although I can run jobs that overwrite a tape, I've never been able to successfully append. Here is a working command to overwrite. The bks path has been shortened so it is more readable: C:\WINNT\system32\NTBACKUP.exe backup "Paths.bks" /p "Travan" /n "ARTC Backup" /j "Weekly Full" /m normal /l:f /hc:on /UM I think the only reason I got this working was the addition of the /UM option, which tells it to just overwrite the first available tape, no questions asked. The problem comes in trying to append to it. The /A option worked just fine under NT 4.0, but dozens of command line option changes have never yielded anything that worked under 2000. The restrictions and requirements of using the /P /G and /T switches have totally thrown me. I can't simply replace the /UM option with /A because /A can't be used with /P, and it also requires /G or /T. Making any change in these three options in the working overwrite command seems to break it. NT 4.0 was so easy: ntbackup backup c: /b /t Normal /d "Full Backup" /e and ntbackup backup c: /t Normal /d "Full Backup" /e /a This is a Windows 2000 server with a single IDE Travan tape drive. No autoloader, nothing complicated. How can I simply append a backup to whatever tape happens to be in the tape drive, regardless of the tape name, pool name, or guid name? Thanks, Brandon

Hi Brandon, I Found this article (#Q267574)on the MS website and there's a lot in here but section #4 may help you with your script problem. Good luck! Cleo SYMPTOMS- When you schedule a Windows 2000 unattended backup using a standalone tape drive, the first backup job completes successfully. However, after you change the media, the next scheduled backup job does not back up the desired folder and files. You may receive one of the following error messages in the backup report log file: The operation was not performed because no unused media was available. -or- Operation was not performed, because the specified media cannot be found. STATUS- Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in Windows 2000 Service Pack 2. CAUSE- This problem can occur if Removable Storage Manager (RSM) is not notified when the media on the standalone tape drive (library) is manually changed. Removable Storage Manager does not poll standalone libraries looking for media changes, and it is the responsibility of the RSM aware program to request that RSM detects if the media changed on standalone libraries. When this problem occurs, RSM updates the tape drives media contents in the RSM database. Usually, when Windows backup is running interactively, it requests that RSM polls the tape drive(s) periodically looking for media changes. When backup is not running, there is no mechanism to request RSM to detect media changes. Backup is unable to issue a mount of the new tape because RSM is not aware that the new tape exists, resulting in a backup job failure. RESOLUTION- To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows 2000. WORKAROUNDS- To work around this problem, use one or more of the following methods incrementally until you are able to perform reliable unattended backups. Note that some tape drives require methods 1 and 2 before reliable backups can be performed. Method 1- Leave a copy of the backup program running in the background. Backup should poll the tape drive periodically looking for media changes, and should help media changes be recognized prior to the real scheduled backup job running. You can use the Srvinstw.exe Microsoft Windows 2000 Resource Kit program to install the Srvany.exe tool, and then permit Ntbackup.exe to run as a service hidden from view. To install the Srvany.exe Tool as a Service: 1)Copy the Srvany.exe tool included in the Windows 2000 Resource Kit to the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder on your computer. 2)Start the Srvinstw.exe program. 3)Click Install a service , and then click Next . 4)Click Local Machine , and then click Next . 5)Type srvany under Service name , and then click Next . 6)Locate the %SystemRoot%\System32\Srvany.exe file, double-click the file name, and then click Next . 7)Click Service in it's own process , and then click Next . 8)Click System Account , and then click Next . 9)Click Automatic , and then click Next . 10)Click Finish . To Configure the Srvany Service to Run Ntbackup.exe as a Service: 1)Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe) to view the following key in the registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SRVANY On the Edit menu, click Add Key... , type Parameters for the key name, and then click OK . Click to select the Parameters key, and then click Add Value under the Edit menu. Enter Application for the value name, and use a data type of REG_SZ. NOTE : Make sure you specify the full path to the NTBackup.exe file. Srvany.exe does not load the program if you use the %SystemRoot% variable in the path. For example: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SRVANY Application: REG_SZ: C:\Winnt\System32\Ntbackup.exe Quit Regedt32.exe. After you reboot your computer, backup starts as a background service. Ntbackup.exe should be running and be visible in Task Manager under the Processes tab, and permits backup to poll tapes looking for media changes. Method 2- Schedule the backup using a Backup.cmd file. You can copy the contents of the scheduled tasks RUN field and then paste them into the batch file. You can use the Rsm.exe refresh command to help recognize changed media. This can be added to the beginning of the backup batch file: [backup.cmd] start /wait rsm.exe refresh /lf"library_name" NOTE : Run the rsm view /tlibrary command to extract the "library_name" to be used with the previously listed command. Method 3- Schedule a Backup.cmd batch file containing a short (one folder\file) backup job, followed by a regular full backup. The first (short) backup will fail because no media is recognized in the tape library, however, the next backup should run because the tape library is refreshed by the first failed backup attempt to find usable media. Method 4- Use the RSM GUI (Ntmsmgr.msc) to manually perform a Full inventory on the tape library after changing tapes and before the next backup job starts. NOTE : If you use the Ntbackup /um switch, it is recommended that you not use the /n switch to label the media. Instead, permit backup to use the default date/time as the label name and description. This eliminates multiple tapes having the same label name which may cause RSM to request a manual tape mount and prevent backup from continuing or completing in unattended mode.

Cleo, A thousand thanks for locating this for me. I have searched and searched without luck. I just knew I wasn't that dumb and suspected there might be an issue like this. This reminds me of the countless hours I wrestled with shutdown issues shortly after Win98SE came out. Eventually MS admitted there was a problem and released their Mapped Drives Shutdown patch. I appreciate your help. Brandon

using brandon & cleo's tips for the command line syntax, but wanting to skip the srvany biz i was able to cycle my backup tapes as follows: 1) run ntbackup to create & schedule the job, called eg Daily, with Media Name eg "Latest Daily" 2) use explorer to open c:\winnt\tasks\Daily Select Properties Edit the command line: add /UM to the end remove /n "Latest Daily" 3) save it - don't edit the job again using ntbackup as it removes the /UM. if you want to edit the scheduling etc, do it by repeating 2) 4) if you need to change the fileset you can either use ntbackup, then repeat 1 above to get /UM back in the command line, or use notepad etc to edit, eg c:\documents and settings\administrator\local settings\application data\microsoft\windows nt\ntbackup\data\Daily.bks (if you do this be sure to include the newline at the end of the file) with this method you'll end up with an everincreasing set of archives listed under "Restore", each named using the timestamp of the backup. thanks a million brandon & cleo for helping me stop fighting with this thing and get out for a beer.