nope pcs on, it just seems random when it runs. looked at the logs doesn't give any reason.
tapes are only a few months old, there is always a tape in. I have used the /um switch on the end of the scedule so it always overwrites whatever is in the drive.
I am going to use acronis backup server edition to see if this works ok as I have a copy lying around and it installs and works fine on xp.