Forum Discussion

wesix's avatar
wesix
Level 3
11 years ago

Can Netbackup overwrite only parts of a tape

Hello, I have my backups on mixed retention tapes. Can Netbackup overwrite only the expired parts of the tape, or does it wait for the whole images on that tape to expire before it can reuse it? Would you guys please point me to where this is documented. Thanks
7.6
Backup and Recovery
Linux
NetBackup
  • RamNagalla's avatar
    RamNagalla
    11 years ago

    it does not...

    it wait untill the last images on the tape expires and then start reuse it..

    that is the reason the best parctice is not to mix the mulitple retenctions in the single tape.

    have a look into the below discussion 

    https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/blogs/understanding-how-netbackup-writes-tape#comment-5471221

  • RamNagalla's avatar
    RamNagalla
    Moderator
    11 years ago

    it does not...

    it wait untill the last images on the tape expires and then start reuse it..

    that is the reason the best parctice is not to mix the mulitple retenctions in the single tape.

    have a look into the below discussion 

    https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/blogs/understanding-how-netbackup-writes-tape#comment-5471221

  • Marianne's avatar
    Marianne
    Level 6
    11 years ago

    Have a look at this excellent blog:

    Understanding how NetBackup writes to a tape. 

    *** EDIT ****

    Already mentioned in Nagalla's excellent post and Andy's post in above-mentioned blog....

    Multiple retentions is never a good idea, and that is why it is not enabled by default.

    Multiple retentions is a short-term solution but create major headaches in the long run when tapes cannot be reused.