Overwrite question

[568719849]

When BEWS overwrites media, does it erase the media and start writing new data? I was hoping Backup Exec would rewind the tape and delete as many jobs as needed to write the new data. Thus, you would have some of your existing data on the tape, but at the same time new data could be written to the tape. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,


Shannon

[Keith_Langmead]

AFAIK, when the backup overwrites the tape it goes back to the beginning and starts from there. Any append jobs will continue from the point where it left off. In theory, any old data at the end of the tape which had not been overwritten would still be there, however you'll find it somewhat difficult to actually access this data, as I believe the backup puts effectively an EOF marker at the end of where it is writing, so the tape drive won't go beyond that point when reading the tape.

[Ken_Putnam]

To expand a little on what Keith said

When you overwrite a tape, the header is re-written, Since BackupExec uses the header info to identify tape volumes, this for all intents and purposes does a "QuickErase", since BEWS looses track of the old data.

It may be possible to recover old data after the end of a newly overwritten backup set, but it would take a lot of work. There was a TechNote for v7 floating around for awhile, but the last time I looked for it, I couldn't find it.

[SANDEEP_PILLAY]

Hi,

In addition to the above replies, please refe to the following technotes as an additional information:

- The basics of Advanced Device and Media Management for VERITAS Backup Exec (tm) for Windows Servers
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/192265.htm

- An explanation of the "Overwrite Protection Period" and the "Append Period"
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/237374.htm

We hope this will help.

[Abhinav_Bindroo]

Assuming the solution provided is correct. Also, there is no response from the customer within 2 days from the last reply by Veritas