Archival strategies with BackupExec

[Wyman_Chong]

Hi,

  We just got a Dell TL2000 tape library and want to be able to provide the following service for our users. If anybody needs something  backed up they provide a location and we back it up to tape. These are for archival purposes, so when we are done we hand the tapes to the users or we will store them offsite for them.

My question is do I have a way to segment the catalogs so I am able to maybe provide the catalogs with the tapes so a restore can be done? Or should I just catalog it if I get the tape 2 -3 years later?

Thanks

[point-blanc · Accepted solution]

The catalogs of the tape will provide you the information regarding the contents of the tape. You cannot provide catalogs with the tapes. Suppose you delete the catalog files for this tape to save space in the drive, you just need to re-catalog the tape at the time when you have to restore the data in the tape or whenever you want to see the content of that tape. Hope that answers your question.

[Sush---]

Or should I just catalog it if I get the tape 2 -3 years later?

Yes. When you want to restore the data you will have to re-catalog the tape.

Thanks,

-Sush...

[Wyman_Chong]

Thanks

[Dave13]

If you are using LTO5 drives, you could use the LTFS file system. A number of vendors are supporting this industry standard format now - it includes a partition for metadata and can be used like a USB drive.

When loaded in a stand-alone LTO5 drive you see all the files like in a USB drive.

HP, IBM and Quantum provide software for their stand-alone drives and companies like the one I represent QStar (and others) allow writing of data using LTFS to your Dell Tape Library.