backwards and forwards compatibility

[jnetfulton]

Hello all,

I am on the fence about upgrading to version 12.  The deciding factor will be whether or not version 12 can read version 11d tapes (for restores) and that version 11d can read version 12 tapes for DR purposes.  Can any of you answer this or point me to some official documentation for upgrade justification?

Thanks in Advance, Justin

[Ken_Putnam]

Reading v11 tapes in v12 should be no problem at all

There are a lot of changes in v12, so, I'm not sure whether reading a v12 tape with v11 is feasible.  Even in an DR situation, why would you want to?

You could always download the trial of v12, put it on a spare machine, and play with it

[jnetfulton]

Ken,

I wouldn’t want to necessarily, but we are trying to keep our 100+ sights 100% identical (in regards to backup solution) so we can recover data in any location if needed.  With as many sites as we have it will take time to migrate them all to version 12 and I want to ensure a tape written in version 12 can be restored at a site with version 11 if we were in a crisis.  I wouldn’t want to tell high level management (not technical) that I have to update software (that is supposed to be 100% identical to all other sites) before I can perform a restore.

I know the odds are slim to none that I will be put in that situation, but one can never be too careful. 

I will more than likely have to setup some type of lab as you suggested to test.

Thanks, Justin

Message Edited by jnetfulton on 03-10-2008 01:34 PM

Message Edited by jnetfulton on 03-10-2008 01:35 PM

[Ken_Putnam]

if all you are after is user data, you may be able to do this, since Symantec is still using MTF (Microsoft Tape Format) as far as I know

But to do a DR Recovery at a Hot Site, I'd bet against it