Restore Expired media
I just want to confirm that if I have a full backup done on 12/1 and I hold it out so it doesn't get overwritten, then once it expires on 2/1 that I can still restore from it like a month later. I beleive I have to re-scan it, right? or re-catalog it? Or is it even possible?
You can definitely restore from a backup set at any time provided that it is not overwritten. When the OPP expires, it means that the media can be overwritten. Until it is overwritten, the backup set is still there on the media.
If you don't truncate your catalogs, then the catalog should remain in BE until the backup set is overwritten. As long as the catalog is in BE, you can just do the restore. You don't have to do anything like cataloging before you do the restore.