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September 9th, 2025 10:49
LTO 8 end of life
Hello all!
Im taking full backups every night on a LTO8 tape with a dell ML3 robot.. The backup goes perfect (Veeam enterprise editition) and all green light.
When I take the tape to my restore/backup test station (another Dell standalone lto8 drive with veeam coommunity edition) veeam says that the tape is end of life and need to be replaced. Restoring backups from that tape works with no problem..
According to Veeam support the message is from the Tape drive and Veeam is only displaying the message as is.
Both drive should display the same message in my opion?
Should I discard the tape?
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DELL-Chris H
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September 9th, 2025 14:57
Jos32,
The message indicates that the tape has reached its maximum number of writes or has been used for a certain period.
It's possible that the firmware or configuration of the two drives might be different, causing the discrepancy in the "End of Life" message.
To answer if you should discard the tape though, in my opinion I don't think so, as the tape is still working correctly and you're able to restore backups from it without issues, there's no need to discard the tape immediately. I would recommend that continue to monitor the tape's health and usage. If you notice any errors or issues with the tape, it may be time to consider replacing it. Also, I would ensure that the firmware on both tape drives is up-to-date, as this might resolve any discrepancies in the "End of Life" message.
Let me know if this helps.
jos32
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September 10th, 2025 07:28
@DELL-Chris H
Hello good point. Yes I need to verify that the drives are running the latest firmware.. Will check this and get back with an answer..
jos32
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September 10th, 2025 09:05
@DELL-Chris H
Ok thanks, updating the firmware did indeed fix the problem..