Moving/copying images from LTO3 tapes to LTO5 tapes

Just duplicate them ...

If you use a different volume pool unique to the LTO5 tapes, then you will definately copy to the correct drives.

Set-up a separate storage unit for the LTO5 and then duplicate the images using

bpduplicate -id <media_id> -dstunit <new LTO5 storage unit>

bpduplicate options are here:

http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO43654

A couple of questions

- Do I have to specify a "copy" for the -dstunit ? I want all the image copies moved/copied to the new media.

- Is there any way to have this command reference a list of media ids, instead of doing one at a time ?

Duh ...  thanks Revaroo, for gently pointing out that the STU dictates the drives used, not the vol pool  - brain fade in my old age ...

- Do I have to specify a "copy" for the -dstunit ? I want all the image copies moved/copied to the new media.

No need to specify as copy number 1 is the default.

cn copy_number|-primary

Determines the copy number to duplicate. Valid values are 1 through 10. The default is 1.

-primary means to search or duplicate the primary copy.

- Is there any way to have this command reference a list of media ids, instead of doing one at a time ?

The bpduplicate command can only take a list of image numbers in a 'BID'-file:

-Bidfile file_name

file_name specifies a file that contains a list of backup IDs to be duplicated. List one backup ID per line in the file. If this parameter is specified, other selection criteria are ignored.

 You can add all media-id's in a text file and use a 'for' loop in a script.

PS: Why not keep backups on the LTO3 tapes?

When you need to restore, simply change the density of one LTO5 drive to match density of LTO3 media and restore.
Change drive density back once restore is done.

- Does this command look right ?

bpduplicate -id <media_id> -dstunit <destination_storage_unit_label> -cn 1 | -primary

- Do I need to specify a new retention level for the duplicated image, or will it retain that of the original image ?

-cn 1 | -primary

You either specify -cn <number> or -primary, not both.

If the LTO3 tapes contain the only backup copy, there is no need for either of these parameters.

If you do not specify a new retention level, it will keep original image retention.

We're moving away from LTO3 tapes, moving everything to LTO5.

So I ran : bpduplicate -id 15741 -dstunit US_NYK_MS1_PTL17_LTO5 -primary using several different LTO3 media id's, but received the following message in all the failed jobs.

04/30/2014 11:08:48 - begin Duplicate
04/30/2014 11:09:12 - end Duplicate; elapsed time 0:00:24
found no images or media matching the selection criteria  (190)

be sure to provide date range ...

-e date, -s date

Specifies the end (-e) or start (-s) of the range of dates and times that include all backups to duplicate. The default end date is the current date and time. The default start time is 24 hours before the current date and time.