I'm beginning to wonder just what this 2003 R2 server has been smoking?

http://iwrconsultancy.co.uk/img/wacky.gif

Backup using NTBackup applet, batch (top left) file clearly defines tape
name, yet the program requests last Friday's tape to be inserted instead of
the one stated.

What's even stranger is that if the job is cancelled then manually
relaunched via the exact-same batch file, second time around it runs
normally.

I guess one answer would be Backup Exec, but for small sites it's a tad
costly.