Backup to Tape Failure

Product version: 11.0

Last modified: 16 September 2025

Problem

When backing up to a tape device, the job may fail with the following error message:

Cannot proceed with the job. There are no free tape cartridges available. Please insert a new tape cartridge and refresh the tape device.

This issue can occur even if the backup object (BO) size is smaller than the nominal capacity of the tape (e.g., 97.2 GB BO on a 100 GB tape).

Background

Tape devices reserve part of their capacity for:

  • Metadata and indexing information

  • Block alignment

  • Compression and device-specific overhead

This means the usable storage on a tape is always less than its nominal capacity. As a result, a backup close to the rated limit may still exceed the effective capacity and require a new tape. Testing with certain virtual tape libraries (e.g., Quadstor VTL) may produce inconsistent results, as they do not always reflect standard tape behavior.

Solution

  1. Don’t try to fill a tape to its full rated size. For example, if a tape is 100 GB, plan your backups to use no more than about 90 GB. This prevents failures when the system needs extra space for metadata and overhead.

  2. Use standard tape devices for validation and production workloads. VTLs should only be used for UI or workflow checks, not for capacity tests.

  3. If this error appears, insert a new tape cartridge as instructed to allow the backup to continue.