When troubleshooting a failed backup, a technician runs the backup using the same tape but on a different tape drive in the same tape library. The backup fails again. Which of the following should…

The tape drive was already effectively ruled out by successfully reproducing the failure on a second, different drive.

The tape library infrastructure (robotics, slots) is not implicated because the core read/write failure persists when a different drive within the same library is used.

Because the technician swapped to a different tape drive and the backup still failed, the tape drive hardware is eliminated as the sole cause. The only common element across both attempts is the tape media itself, so a damaged, degraded, or incompatible tape cartridge is the most logical first point of investigation. Defective media can cause consistent failures regardless of which drive reads it.

Tape capacity is a pre-backup planning concern and would not cause a mid-process failure in the same way physical media degradation would.