Backup Exec 11d Automatically Re-allocating Tapes to Different Media Sets

[Mr_David]

Since I've started keeping detailed logs of our media sets I've noticed that every few weeks tapes are being moved from one media set to another.  I need these tapes to stay in their own media sets so they are not overwritten ahead of schedule.   I do have some overwrite protection period parameters set on each media set, however this shouldn't cause a job to pull media from a different media set.

How do I prevent this from happening in the future?

[Ken_Putnam]

I've noticed that every few weeks tapes are being moved from one media set to another

You have two options:

From Tools/Options/Media Management select the option to "use overwriteable media in the target media set  before scratch media"  If the other is selected, Backup Exec will use the "oldest" scratch tape it can find - meaning the one that has been in scratch status longest first

or you could partition your loader and point your jobs to the appropriate partition

[Mr_David]

I'm not sure what you mean by the last part.  Can you briefly explain partitioning a loader?

[Ken_Putnam]

I'm not sure what you mean by the last part. Can you briefly explain partitioning a loader?


You can create "partitions" out of one or more slots.  These can then be used as the output target of a BackuPExec job.  See the Admin Guide page 214   or

http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/262055.htm
http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/206843.htm


Partitioning is the only way to gaurantee that a specific tape or set of tapes will  be used by a certain job.  setting the option only gives you a really good chance of that happening   |8^)