Tape drive visible in device manager but not windows explorer

[Steve Conover]

I just installed a Sony AIT 40GB IDE tape drive (for backups). It's
listed in Device Manager, but I can't find it in Windows Explorer.
There is a tape loaded.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Steve

[Kerry Brown]

Steve Conover wrote:
> I just installed a Sony AIT 40GB IDE tape drive (for backups). It's
> listed in Device Manager, but I can't find it in Windows Explorer.
> There is a tape loaded.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Thanks,
> Steve

Use a backup program to access the tape drive. You can't write/read to a
tape with explorer. NTBackup, that comes with XP Pro and can be added to XP
Home, will work.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/bott_03july14.mspx

http://theeldergeek.com/backup_using_wizard.htm


--
Kerry

[Steve Conover]

I'm using Norton Ghost 10.0, and can't find it from there, either.
I'll ask them.

[Kerry Brown]

Disk imaging programs don't work with tape drives. You need a BACKUP program
that recognises tape drives. There is one built into XP or you could
purchase one.

--
Kerry

Steve Conover wrote:
> I'm using Norton Ghost 10.0, and can't find it from there, either.
> I'll ask them.

[Steve Conover]

Thanks Kerry. Ghost 10.0 implies it will work with tape drives; I have
a message in to them.

In the meantime, I tried XP's ntbackup.exe, and can't get it to work
either. Even though I had AIT-1 tape (made by Sony) loaded in the
drive, it kept giving me this message before quitting:

"There is no free media available with the selected type. Add unused
media or click Cancel to end the operation."

Steve