Backup Job Fails When Reusing Tape Cartridge

Product version: 11.1

Last modified: 26 January 2026

Problem

A tape backup job fails with the following error message:

There are no free tape cartridges available. Please insert a new tape cartridge and refresh the tape device.

This happens even though the tape cartridge report indicates that all recovery points (RPs) on the cartridge have expired, and the cartridge is expected to be reused.

Background

NAKIVO Backup & Replication supports automatic tape reuse to optimize tape storage. However, tape reuse is governed by strict safety rules to prevent breaking backup chains and causing data loss.

Although recovery points on a specific cartridge may be marked as expired, they can still be part of a backup chain that spans multiple tape cartridges. In such cases, the cartridge remains logically required to preserve at least one complete recovery chain, which includes a full backup and all dependent incremental backups.

Solution

To solve the issue, ensure the following conditions are met:

  1. Verify that Auto erase expired tapes option is enabled

  2. All recovery points on the cartridge have expired and are not currently in use by any active jobs.

  3. The cartridge does not contain recovery points that have dependencies on non-expired recovery points stored on other cartridges.

Reusing the cartridge does not break the requirement to keep at least one full backup chain, including all dependent incremental backups.

Recommended Actions

  1. Wait until all dependent recovery points in the chain (across all cartridges in the set) have reached their expiration date.

  2. Insert a new or "Free" tape cartridge into the library and refresh the tape device to allow the job to continue.

  3. If you are certain the data is no longer needed, you can manually select the cartridge and perform a Mark as Free or Erase action (Use with caution).

Important

This action bypasses standard expiration checks and permanently breaks any backup chains that span this cartridge. The action remains unavailable if the recovery points are currently in use by an active job.