Backup Exec 11d full backup spanning multiple tapes

Look at the job properties and check to see if it says overwrite and not append.. Otherwise it will only place backup data on free tape space..

Also do keep in mind that 200GB/400GB tapes can hold up to 400GB compressed data, that;s something else then 400GB of data.. When you backup data to tape it compresses it hence the difference in space usage.

All of my job templates are set as Overwrite. I understand that LTO-3 has the 200GB/400GB spec. But, my total job came in at 150GB. It should all fit on one cartridge, not 5! Just verified the job from 6/29, it was a differential backup at about 5GB that spanned 3 cartridges. Something is definitely screwy...
Could the tape drive be faulty?

It could be, but normally they give a warning when you need to enter the cleaning tape (you do have a cleanign tape schedule btw??). I'd say format a drive completely (or test a new one that's on the shelve) and see what happens then.. Also, normally drives need to be replaced approx once a year..

Still, i don't think it's a tape issue, seeing that it spans over 5 tapes.

Yes, I clean the tape drive on a regular basis-monthly. It was cleaned last week. Not sure what you mean by formatting a drive? I'm thinking you meant tape. Like I said earlier, these 5 tapes are brand new. I unwrapped/loaded them Tuesday morning. Thanks.

Hmm, strange.. And yes, i meant format the tapes.. When you look at the logging of the backup, does it say why it skipped to the other drive? And did the backup end succesfully?? Or did it fail?

It looks like there might be something wrong with the tapes and/or drive tbh.. I don;t see what configuration could do here if you selected overwrite in data maintenance.

It doesn't say why it moved to other tapes. There is a huge gap of time between backing up one server, then moving to the next, which I thought was really strange.
The job failed in the verify stage. It verified everything correctly on all servers, except one. While verifying the C: on one server, it failed, first saying the data being read from the media was inconsistent, then saying the media server lost connection with the target.

hmm, strange.. You use one server as backup server and tell that server to backup all other servers? Tbh it looks like hardware issue to me if i see your remarks.. You could try and delete the client on the specific machine and reinstall it (or test your backup without that server maybe).

Have you tried backupping a large amount of data on 1single server for test?

I have a FE coming out to replace the drive either today or tomorrow. I have also ordered a new SCSI card and cable. So, we'll see if it is indeed a hardware issue.
I have gone through the motions of removing the remote agent and re-installing. Same, same.
Yes, I also tried a backup job on a single server. The backup did complete, but the throughput was horrendous. The differential last night was horrible as well-12GB at 25MB/min!