HP StorageWorks DAT USB Tape Drives

beginners guide

A beginners guide to DAT USB tape drives

Part number: DW022-90924 First edition: June 2006

Legal and notice information Copyright 2005-2006 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Hewlett-Packard Company makes no warranty of any kind with regard to this material, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Hewlett-Packard shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material. This document contains proprietary information, which is protected by copyright. No part of this document may be photocopied, reproduced, or translated into another language without the prior written consent of Hewlett-Packard. The information is provided as is without warranty of any kind and is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein. Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, and Windows XP are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group.

HP StorageWorks DAT USB Tape Drives beginners guide

Contents
Whats in this guide?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Who should read this guide? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Related documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Helpful websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Pre-installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Using your tape drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 It pays to look after your media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

The USB interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Backup tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Accessing the tape drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Why cant my computer see the tape drive? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Can I drag and drop files onto the tape drive? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 How do I know that the tape drive is connected correctly? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Why has my application lost the tape drive? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 What should I do if my backup or restore is interrupted? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Backup applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Which backup application should I use?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 What are the advantages of Native Windows Backup? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 What are the advantages of Data Protector Express? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Is it OK to use other backup software? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Backup Performance and Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Why does backup take such a long time? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 My tape drive seems slow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Why cant I back up as much data as I expect to? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Whats the difference between a backup and archive?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Why do I need a backup strategy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Show me an example of a backup routine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Why are there so many backup types?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 What is media rotation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Disaster Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 What is Disaster Recovery (DR)? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 What is OBDR? Can I use it? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 What other options are available for Disaster Recovery? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Can I manage without DR functionality? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Interpreting the LEDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
HP StorageWorks DAT USB Tape Drives beginners guide

Your HP Tape Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

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Whats in this guide?

This guide: Highlights important information about the USB interface and how it affects tape drive performance. Describes backup applications and provides backup tips for new or inexperienced users. Provides a set of frequently asked questions to help new or inexperienced users define a backup strategy and look after their media.

Who should read this guide?

If you are new to tape backup with USB be sure to read The USB interface on page 5 before you install your tape drive. If you are a new tape drive user you will find all the sections in this guide provide valuable information for inexperienced users.

Related documentation
In addition to this guide, please refer to other documents for this product: Start here poster for an overview of the installation information in this guide (available in English, French, German and Japanese) The User Guide on the HP StorageWorks Tape CD-ROM or step-by-step instructions on installing and operating your tape drive (available in 13 languages) These and other HP documents can be found on the HP documents web site: http://www.docs.hp.com.

Helpful websites
Telephone numbers for worldwide technical support are listed on the HP support web site: http://www.hp.com/support/. For product information, see the following HP web sites: http://www.hp.com http://www.hp.com/go/connect/ http://www.hp.com/go/tape/ http://www.hp.com/go/obdr/ http://www.hp.com/go/storage/ http://www.hp.com/support/ http://www.docs.hp.com

The USB interface

Your HP DAT USB tape drive has a USB 2.0 interface. USB is a versatile, plug and play interface that makes HP DAT USB tape drives very easy to install and configure. The following good practice is recommended to get the most from your HP DAT USB tape drive.

Pre-installation
Be aware of the following guidelines: Only connect one DAT USB tape drive per system. If you connect other USB devices, such as memory sticks or cameras, they may take priority over the tape drive and cause backup to be slow. Ensure that the DAT USB tape drive is connected to a USB 2.0 port. The USB ports on most newer systems are USB 2.0. Connecting via an older USB 1.1 port will reduce overall performance; backup could take a very long time. Connect the tape drive directly to your computer and not through a USB hub, a USB extender cable or a USB port on your keyboard or monitor. Connecting directly to your computer minimizes the chances of USB bus configuration errors occurring.

YES

NO

NO

HP StorageWorks DAT USB Tape Drives beginners guide

Installation
IMPORTANT: Connect your tape drive directly to a USB 2.0 port on your computer and make sure that it is the only DAT USB tape drive connected. There are three steps to installing your HP DAT USB tape drive: 1. Install the required drivers from the HP StorageWorks CD-ROM supplied with the product. Run the program called DATTapeDriverInstaller.exe. 2. Connect your tape drive to your server and power supply. 3. Install backup software to control and automate the backup and restore process, and to manage your tape drives and media. For detailed installation instructions, see the printed Start here poster or the User Guide on the HP StorageWorks Tape CD-ROM.

Using your tape drive

If in doubt about any element of your DAT USB tape drive setup, HP Library and Tape Tools (available free from the HP website, www.hp.com/support/TapeTools) can be used to quickly and easily verify that your tape hardware is functioning correctly. The most important pieces of advice are: Do not unplug/replug the tape drive whilst a backup or restore operation is in progress. A full tape backup can take a long time. This is normal, but it is good practice to use the different types of backup available in your application to streamline the process, where possible. See Show me an example of a backup routine on page 12. Other factors to be aware of include: The DAT USB Tape Drive does not appear as a device under My Computer and it is not mapped to a drive letter. The drive can be seen and accessed from a backup application, such as Windows Backup, the Data Protector Express in-box software supplied by HP with the drive or a third party application. Some computers have an older system BIOS; this can cause boot failure with a DAT USB drive attached. If you experience this, simply ensure that the drive is disconnected, or powered down during boot-up. Some computers, such as laptops or notebooks, cannot access the hard disk at the speed required to match the speed of the tape drive. This does not mean that your tape drive is underperfoming, just that it takes your computer longer to write the data to the tape drive. Be patient and allow time for any operation to complete successfully. Tape is a sequential access device, rather than a direct access device like CD, disk or memory sticks. Timeout periods for direct access devices may last only a few seconds, for tape they may last minutes. USB uses a global, dynamic addressing system. This means that when a USB device is added or unplugged, the addresses of ALL the USB devices on the system may change. This provides a flexible plug and play environment, but can sometimes cause an application to "lose" the DAT
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USB tape drive (because its USB address has suddenly changed). The HP software provided with the tape drive has the intelligence to deal with this condition automatically; other software does not necessarily cope so well. If you are not using the HP Data Protector Express software supplied with your DAT USB tape drive: Do not plug or unplug other USB devices whilst a backup or restore operation is in progress (especially other storage devices such as memory sticks or digital cameras). If an application "loses" the USB tape drive, re-start the application backup engine (check the applications documentation to find out how to do this, it may not be as simple as closing and re-opening the application) and re-configure your backup jobs to point to the "relocated" tape drive device. Powering up your system with the USB tape drive attached and powered on is an easy way to avoid any potential problems. When using a third party application ensure that the Windows RSM (Removable Storage Manager) service has been disabled this should be done automatically when your application is installed but if, for some reason, this fails to happen, the backup system will not work properly. When using Windows backup, RSM should remain enabled.

To check whether Windows RSM (Removable Storage Manager) service is disabled

Select Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services. The Services window displays a list of all the available Windows services and their current status. Windows RSM is listed under the name Removable Storage.

In our example the Removable Storage service has a status that is blank, this means that the Windows RSM service is not running. If the status is started, RSM is running.
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To stop the RSM service

Highlight the RSM service in the list and select Stop the service from the left-hand menu. To prevent it from starting automatically next time, right-click on the RSM service and select Properties. Select Manual from the Startup type drop-down list.

Backup tips
Run backups when the machine is idle. This will lead to the fastest and most efficient backup. Many people find it convenient to run their backup overnight. Close all applications and data files for the duration of the backup. Most backup software will not back up open files, unless a separate open file agent has been specifically enabled (normally at extra cost). Ensure that you have the necessary level of privilege on your system to back up all the files you wish to protect. You cannot back up files that you cannot access. For example, you must log on as the Administrator, if you want to back up all accounts and system settings. Refer to the Windows online help for more information about user accounts. Be aware that some data file formats are more compressible than others. The quoted 2:1 compression ratio applies to uncompressed data only. The drive can halve the size of many files, such as spreadsheets and word processing files. Other files, such as JPEG pictures, movies, music and ZIP files, are already compressed and cannot usually be compressed any further. This is normal; there is nothing wrong with your media capacity or drive performance. To protect your valuable data, always store and handle backup media correctly. Be sure to use the recommended media for your tape drive. After performing your first backup, take the time to check it completed successfully and do a test restore to ensure that you can recover and read your data.

It pays to look after your media

Your HP DAT USB tape drive works best with high-performance HP DDS media. Always use the recommended data and cleaning cartridges. For detailed information on media care and best practice and to order online, refer to www.hp.com/go/storagemedia/dds. Many tape drive and backup failures are caused by damaged or badly handled tape media. Keep media in the case provided. Follow the temperature, humidity and acclimatization guidelines on the media packaging. Avoid dropping it or rough handling, as this is likely to damage the cartridge. Inspect it regularly for damage. Do not exceed normal cartridge life (100 full volume backup or restore operations). Store media that contains valuable backup data in a safe environment, preferably off-site.

Frequently Asked Questions

Accessing the tape drive
Why cant my computer see the tape drive?
The DAT USB Tape Drive does not appear as a device under My Computer and it is not mapped to a drive letter. As long as the tape drive has been installed correctly, you will be able to see and access it from your backup application.

Can I drag and drop files onto the tape drive?

No, it doesnt work like Explorer or a disk drive. Because the tape drive does not appear in My Computer you can only copy files to it from within the backup application.

How do I know that the tape drive is connected correctly?

There are a number of ways of doing this: For day-to-day operation, as long as your backup application can see and access your HP DAT USB tape drive, it is installed correctly. To check and troubleshoot the performance of your tape drive use the free diagnostics software, HP Library & Tape Tools. You can download this from our website at www.hp.com/support/TapeTools. To check the USB connection you can also use Device Manager. Go to Device Manager and select Devices by connection from the View menu. Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers and locate the tape drive. If it is connected to the HP USB Mass Storage Device, it is connected and configured correctly.

Why has my application lost the tape drive?

You have probably unplugged the tape drive or added/removed another USB device. Some applications do not support a flexible plug-and-play environment. You will need to restart the application backup engine, as described in the software documentation, or restart your computer with the USB tape drive attached.

What should I do if my backup or restore is interrupted?

Start again from the beginning. If the application loses the tape drive for whatever reason, do not assume that it will know exactly how far the backup or restore has progressed. Always restart the backup or restore from the beginning.

HP StorageWorks DAT USB Tape Drives beginners guide

Backup applications
Which backup application should I use?
You have three choices when it comes to selecting a Windows-based backup application: Microsoft Backup Utility for Windows Data Protector Express One of the many third-party backup applications

What are the advantages of Microsoft Backup Utility for Windows?

Its simple to use, has comprehensive online documentation and is perfectly adequate for a basic backup routine. For operating system versions prior to Windows Vista, it is also supplied free with the Windows operating system and provides full support for backup to tape. (Windows Vista and Longhorn are supplied with Microsoft Backup Utility for Windows, but it does not support tape drives. Users of these versions of the Windows operating systems must use Data Protector Express or one of the supported third-party applications.) Be aware that Microsoft Backup Utility for Windows has limited functionality and does not support all the features of your tape drive. For example, it does not contain any sophisticated intelligence to deal with the flexible plug-and-play nature of DAT USB tape. It may lose the tape drive if USB devices are unplugged and replugged. NOTE: Microsoft Backup Utility for Windows is not installed by default in Windows XP Home Edition. To install it, run ntbackup.msi from the VALUEADD\MSFT\NTBACKUP\ folder on the Windows CD-ROM.

What are the advantages of Data Protector Express?

This is HP backup software and a single-license version is supplied free of charge with your DAT USB tape drive. Data Protector Express is one of the leading applications for server backup and contains additional features, not found in Windows Backup. Because of its complexity and the choices it offers, it is more complex to configure than Windows Backup. However, once you have set up your backup and restore jobs, they are relatively easy to run. Data Protector Express has the intelligence to handle the plug-and-play nature of DAT USB tape. NOTE: If you plan to use a DAT USB tape drive on multiple systems, check the licensing agreement that comes with your software carefully. You will need to purchase additional licenses to back up multiple machines.

Is it OK to use other backup software?

Yes. www.hp.com/go/connect lists the applications that HP knows to work with DAT USB tape drives.

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Third-party applications can range from very simple, cheap, easy-to-use applications to expensive, highly functional, but harder-to-use applications. They also vary in their ability to seamlessly handle the plug-and-play nature of DAT USB. Its up to you to choose one that is appropriate for your usage.

Backup Performance and Strategy

Why does backup take such a long time?
Tape media provides considerably more storage space than CDs or memory sticks. If you are not familiar with backing up all your files in one go, it can seem to take a long time to complete. Typically a full backup will take several hours to complete. If a verify pass is also being used to check the backup, then the overall time to complete will be doubled. So, if you are backing up a full system, backup and verify could take up to five hours. Its a good idea to run your backup when your computer is idle and the majority of files and applications are closed, perhaps at the end of the working day or overnight. That way the backup will complete more quickly, will not interfere with other work you are doing, and there will be fewer open files that get missed (remember, some backup software will not back up open files unless you buy additional components).

My tape drive seems slow

Be patient and allow time for any operation to complete successfully. Tape is a sequential access device, rather than a direct access device like CD, disk or memory sticks. Timeout periods for direct access devices may last only a few seconds, for tape they may last minutes. If you think your tape drive may be under-performing use the free diagnostics software, HP Library & Tape Tools to check performance. You can download this from our website at www.hp.com/support/TapeTools.

Why cant I back up as much data as I expect to?

The capacity quoted for DDS media assumes that the tape drive will be able to compress your data and reduce the file sizes by 50%. This can be achieved only if your data is not already compressed. For example, if you are backing up only JPEG pictures, movies, music or ZIP files, do not expect to get much more than 36 GB on DAT 72 media. If you are backing up spreadsheets, text files, high-resolution graphics, you are much more likely to achieve close to 72 GB. Most users have a mixture of compressed and uncompressed data and, typically, achieve a capacity of 60 to 65 GB on a DAT 72 data cartridge.

Whats the difference between a backup and an archive?

The main difference between a backup and an archive is that archives are taken off-site for long-term storage. Backups provide additional copies of your current and historical data; the data remains on your hard disk. So long as the tapes are protected, this data can be recovered in the event of hardware failure, accidental deletion or even catastrophic disaster. Archives provide a relatively cheap way to retain historical data. This is data that is not needed regularly but must be retained for legal, regulatory or company policy reasons, or just to free up disk space. Once it has been archived, the data can be removed from your hard disk. Your tape drive provides one of the most cost-effective ways of protecting data. For ease of recovery, its advisable to keep archived data on separate media to the regular backups.
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Why do I need a backup strategy?

Because it will help you define which data is crucial or valuable and identify where it is located. It will also help you decide which backup software to use and how to use it most effectively. How you organize a backup depends very much on how frequently the data changes, how extensive these changes are, and how valuable you consider the information. What is essential is that you define what needs to be backed up and follow a routine, so that backup is regular and trouble-free and your data is fully protected. Determine backup strategies by asking the following questions: What data needs to be backed up? What data needs to be restored? Do I need to back up all my data and applications, the data only, or just some of the data? How much time have I got to run the backup or restore? How often should backups take place? How much data will my backup cartridge hold? Will I need to use more than one cartridge? Is the backup during the working day or at the end of the day? How long would a restore take to run? NOTE: To learn more about backup strategies, refer to the online help or documentation for your backup application.

Show me an example of a backup routine

Once you have defined your backup needs, there are many systematic methods for backing up data on a regular basis. All applications allow you to schedule regular backup. Do make use of this feature; it is by far the most reliable way of ensuring that your valuable data is protected. The method recommended below for a weekly backup routine is very simple to implement. It also illustrates some of the terminology used to describe the different types of backup. See also Why are there so many backup types? on page 13. NOTE: Always check the log file on completion of each days backup to check whether any files have been omitted from the backup. 1. Monday: Perform a full backup, ideally out of core business hours (for example, overnight). You may also choose to verify this backup. A full backup backs up the entire system and typically overwrites any information on the media. It can take several hours and new media must normally be formatted before use. Verify is a useful, additional step, which immediately reads back the data just backed up and compares it with the original to ensure no errors have occurred, and that there are no problems or damage to the tape media. Be aware that this doubles the time that backup takes.

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2. Tuesday to Friday: Perform a daily incremental backup to capture that day's activity. This backs up only those files that have changed and it is relatively quick. Normally, you would choose to append changes (add the changes to Mondays backup), rather than overwrite existing files on the backup media. 3. At the end of the week, change the media and store the current weeks backup for as long as required. This routines assumes you can back everything up to a single cartridge. If you have a lot of data, this may not be feasible. You may need additional cartridges for the full backup or you may need separate cartridges for the full and incremental backups. This is why it is so important to define your strategy carefully before you start.

Why are there so many backup types?

The different backup types allow you to make the best use of your media and time available to run backup. Your first backup should always be a Full backup to back up your system and data. It should also include a Verify step. Subsequent backups may be Full or Partial. Its sensible to run a Full backup at regular intervals, say weekly, with Partial backups in between. Partial backups may be incremental or differential. Differential backups back up all changed files since the last full backup. If you use this option, you may be happy to overwrite the previous differential backup. Incremental backups back up changed files since the last back up (full or incremental). If you use this option, you should append the changed files. To learn more about the different types of backup, refer to the online help or documentation for your backup application.

What is media rotation?

Media rotation defines the frequency with which you reuse your data cartridges. If you are archiving data, you probably want to keep it for a long time. Generally, you do not expect to reuse media that you are using for archived data and it is good practice to store the tapes off site. Day-to-day backup, however, is usually more short-term and designed to ensure that your working data is protected until you no longer need the files or are in position to archive them. You are, therefore, likely to reuse the media, but it is important to ensure that nothing is overwritten while it may still be needed. The backup regime described above backs up a whole weeks worth of data onto one cartridge. A three-tape media rotation system would ensure that you always have this weeks data, plus data from the previous two weeks. It could be used in conjunction with an archiving strategy where key data is archived off periodically onto additional tapes for long-term storage.

HP StorageWorks DAT USB Tape Drives beginners guide

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NOTE: To learn more about media rotation, refer to the online help or documentation for your backup application.

Disaster Recovery
What is Disaster Recovery (DR)?
Disaster Recovery is the capability to completely recover the operating system, applications and data in the event of severe hardware failure or even catastrophic disaster, such as fire of flood. As long as your media is correctly managed and kept safe (either off-site or in a floor or fire safe), the HP DAT USB tape drive is the ideal mechanism for disaster recovery.

What is OBDR? Can I use it?

OBDR refers to HP One-Button Disaster Recovery, which allows automated recovery of a complete system at the touch of a button using the last full backup tape. It is a very useful feature, but is not available to all users. It requires the in-box Data Protector Express software or another approved backup application and is fully tested and supported only on HP ProLiant server platforms. See www.hp.com/go/obdr for further details.

What other options are available for Disaster Recovery?

Most backup applications provide the facility for Disaster Recovery, although some require you to purchase it as an extra module. The in-box Data Protector Express software includes DR, free of charge. The exact nature of DR solutions varies depending on the software being used, but in most cases involves using a combination of mediathe original Windows installation CD, plus the tape, plus other media in some cases. NOTE: ASR (Automated System Recovery) is the DR feature supplied by Microsoft as part of the Windows 2003 operating system. ASR using an HP DAT USB is only supported by Microsoft from Windows Server 2003 R2 onwards.

Can I manage without DR functionality?

Yes. You can manually reinstall your operating system and applications - including the backup application software - and then use the latest backup tapes to recover critical data. This is the slowest and most labor-intensive method of recovery, but it is still effective. This method generally requires the user to import the backup media into the application before carrying out the restore. This is required to re-build the backup database that the application uses for the restore process.

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Your HP Tape Drive

The power on/off switch is on the rear of an external tape drive. Figure 1 Front view of external USB tape drive cartridge door

Power On LED

LEDs

eject button

Interpreting the LEDs

The meaning of different patterns of LEDs is as follows:
LED Sequence Tape On Flashing Off + + + + Clean Off Off On Cartridge loaded Drive busy Drive error The drive is ready to use. The drive is either initiating or the backup application is accessing the media. Try ejecting the media and power the drive off and on again. Follow the troubleshooting advice in the User Guide. Clean the drive. Try using new media. Follow the troubleshooting advice in the User Guide. Meaning Comment

Off

Flashing

Media error

HP StorageWorks DAT USB Tape Drives beginners guide

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