Following tools should be used to analyze the status of the tape device on a system, check device's details, work directly with a tape device and view the contents of an ARSM (Acronis Removable Storage Management ) database.
You may be asked to provide the output or the result of one of these tools while troubleshooting issues with tape devices.
To list the installed tape drives:
tapes.exe
tapes.exe: download
The tool provides following information:
Lists the installed tape drives
To execute it:
Download and extract.
Open the Command prompt: Start -> Search -> cmd
Navigate to the folder where you have extracted the tool. Use cd command.
Run:
tapes.exe > c:\tapes.txt
Collect tapes.txt from C:\ (alternatively you can specify another location when executing the command).
To list the details about the tape device:
mtx_test.exe
mtx_test.exe: download
The tool provides following information:
Information about tape drive;
Information about tape changes
Information about tape capabilities
To execute it:
Download and extract.
Open the Command prompt: Start -> Search -> cmd
Navigate to the folder where you have extracted the tool. Use cd command.
Run:
mtx_test.exe > c:\mtx_test.txt
Collect mtx_test.txt from C:\ (alternatively you can specify another location when executing the command).
To send commands to the tape device:
sptd.exe
sptd.exe : download
This is an 'Acronis Scsi Pass Through Direct' command-line tool. It provides following functionality:
Work with scsi devices directly.
Always make sure you don't have any tape with important data in the drive before using this tool!
You can use this tool to check the device for write I/O request error. To execute it:
Download and extract.
Open the Command prompt: Start -> Search -> cmd
Navigate to the folder where you have extracted the tool. Use cd command.
The following command example writes a file directly to a tape device with specified settings.
sptd.exe write_file --file="C:\backup-file.tib" --device_path="\\.\Tape0" --block_size=16384 --rewind=true
where instead of C:\backup-file.tib you must specify your backup file that has to be more than 15 GB in size; /block_size: is the block size in bytes (16kB, 32kB, 48kB, 64kB). So, for example in order to try write with 32kb block, you should set /block_size:32768
If the test is successful, you will see the write speed and the amount of written data, otherwise you will get an error message.
To see all options execute:
sptd.exe help
To save the ARSM db content to html/text format: for Acronis Backup 11.7 and Acronis Cyber Backup 12.5
arsm_dmldb_dump_tool.exe
1. Download for Acronis Backup 11.5/11.7 : click here
It saves archives in html format and dumps raw arsm database in text format.
To only save the list of archives to a file in a readable format execute:
C:\arsm_dmldb_dump_tool.exe html > C:\arsm.html
To retrieve information from an ARSM database in an AcronisInfo archive:
Stop the Acronis Removable Storage Manager (ARSM) Service;
Copy the database to folder (e.g. C:\Users\All Users\Acronis\BackupAndRecovery\ARSM\Database );
Start the ARSM service;
Execute:
arsm_dmldb_dump_tool.exe
2. Download for Acronis Cyber Backup 12/12.5 : click here
This tool dumps raw ASRM database. Execute the following command:
arsm_dmldb_dump_tool.exe database <path_ to_arsm.sqlite>
To check whether the tape device is supported:
See Acronis Cyber Backup Advanced: Acronis Hardware Compatibility Tool for tape devices