Frequently Asked Questions

Click on a question to go to the answer.

·       When we run BACKTMS to look at the online catalog file for our backup, the tape status says IN” and we cannot display the logfile entry.  What happened and how can we change the status if we want to reuse that tape?  We have also seen a tape status of  OUT, what does that mean ?

·       Why is BackBurner taking twice as long to backup as our old backup utility?

·       Is there a way to recreate catalog entries in BACKTMS for backup tapes ?  What about tapes that have appended segments?  Is there a way to verify all of the segments at once?

·       We are trying to backup to brand new tapes with BackBurner, but keep getting a message that the “Volume does not contain a BackBurner Header.”  Why?

·       We have set BackBurner to not create a catalog entry for our backup tapes.  How can we perform a restore?

·       Can I restore data from my BackBurner tapes after my license to use the software is expired?

·       Why do I get the message "Program has been tampered with.  Replace with original distribution copy"?

·       Trying to run BackBurner why do I get the message "User Modifiable Data Area - rerun with at least 512k available"?

When we run BACKTMS to look at the online catalog file for our backup, the tape status says IN” and we cannot display the logfile entry.  What happened and how can we change the status if we want to reuse that tape?  We have also seen a tape status of  OUT, what does that mean ?

A tape remains a status of “INC” (incomplete) when a backup does not complete normally.  To change the status of the tape entry so the tape may be reused, simply press PF8 “Change Status”.  Select “Activate”.  The tape status will change to “ACT”.  Now you can scratch or delete the tape entry as needed.  You should display the entry, though, before re-writing or deleting it, to ascertain why the backup did not complete.

A tape status of OUT normally means that the tape is currently in output mode or being written to.  If you know the backup should have been finished and there is no activity to the tape drive, it could mean the backup did not complete because of a tape I/O error, the backup was cancelled while in progress, the tape drive is hung or there was a system outage.  Once the reason has been identified and corrected, the tape should be physically ejected from the tape drive.  The tape entry status should then change to “INC” (see above).

We recently replaced a disk drive and are trying to restore the data to the new volume, but BackBurner is reporting “Volume Full”.  The data fit on the same size disk volume before.  What happened?

When initializing the new disk volume, you specified a Pagepool and/or Dump slot that the original disk volume did not have.  Having these options on a disk volume reduce its capacity.

Why is BackBurner taking twice as long to backup as our old backup utility?

You may have specified COMPRESS = YES in BackBurner, through the CONFIG Utility or on the BackBurner OUTPUT screen.  Although software compression effectively doubles the capacity of tapes when written by certain tape drives, it is extremely CPU intensive and will cause the backup to take approximately twice a s long as backups that run without compression.

The following tape drives have hardware compression built in to them, which is much faster and more efficient than using software compression:

            4mm Magna serial tape drive

Wang 2239-V2, V3, or V4 and the 2259V-4H SCSI tape drives

Customers having any of these tape drives should leave the BackBurner default to COMPRESS = NO.

Is there a way to recreate catalog entries in BACKTMS for backup tapes ?  What about tapes that have appended segments?  Is there a way to verify all of the segments at once?

To recreate tape catalog entries in BACKTMS, make sure the tape name does not already exist in BACKTMS.  Then, simply run BACKBURN, Function VERIFY on the tape. To recreate the entries for appended tapes, you will need to run Function VERIFY on each segment of the tape, individually.  If you need to recreate the catalog entry for a multiple tape backup set, run Function VERIFY, but we recommend you start with the Root (first) tape of the volume set.

We are trying to backup to brand new tapes with BackBurner, but keep getting a message that the “Volume does not contain a BackBurner Header.”  Why?

When new tapes are used, you must specify CLEAR = YES on the BackBurner OUTPUT screen.  CLEAR = NO should only be used to append to a tape that already contains an ACTIVE BackBurner backup, that you do not want to overwrite.

We have set BackBurner to not create a catalog entry for our backup tapes.  How can we perform a restore?

Unless BackBurner’s CONFIG utility, Installation Default, has been set to CATALOG= NO or NEVER, you can run BackBurn, Function VERIFY to create a catalog entry in BACKTMS, so that you can perform fast, point and shoot restores.  (You can modify the Installation Defaults by running CONFIG in BACKBURN on your system volume.)

If you do not want to create a catalog entry in BACKTMS, you can always restore from your tapes by running BackBurn, Function = RESTORE.  Specify the name of the tape to restore from in the TAPEVOL field.  The Volume, Library and File fields on the INPUT screen of BackBurn apply to the DISK volume where the files were backed up from.  You can supply values for these fields when there are only certain volumes, libraries or files you want to restore.  The use of wildcards is allowed on restores in the same manner they are used for backups. (See BackBurner Reference Manual, Page 4-2 General Information)

Can I restore data from my BackBurner tapes after my license to use the software is expired?

Yes, you can.  Only the BACKUP function is inhibited after the software expires.  You may still use the RESTORE and VERIFY functions.

Why do I get the message "Program has been tampered with.  Replace with original distribution copy"?

If you recently installed or reinstalled BackBurner the problem is probably because rather than install BackBurner directly from the installation diskette "BURNER", you copied or backed up the software from the diskette to your system volume and ran INSTALL from library BACKBURN on your system volume.  Since the INSTALL program puts BackBurner into library BACKBURN (by default) on the system volume, there was a conflict. You cannot install the software from the same library/volume we install the software into.  You should run INSTALL in library BACKBURN directly from the installation diskette BURNER, or copy/backup the software from the diskette to a volume other than your system volume.

Trying to run BackBurner why do I get the message "User Modifiable Data Area - rerun with at least 512k available"?

BackBurner achieves its speed by using extensive buffers to allow the input and output streams to run somewhat independently.  You need to have more virtual memory available.  Run the VS Security Utility and modify your user logon by setting the Modifiable Data Area (MDA) field to at least 1024k   (See "Requirements" section on page 2-1 in BackBurner Reference Manual).  Once the changes have been made to your logon ID, you must logon off and then log back on in order for the modifications to take effect.