"Cpoy / Extract" BKF files from tape to Hard Disk?

[andera223]

Hi, 

Does anyone know of a way within Backup Exec (or a 3rd party util) that can copy the bkf files straight from tape to hard disk for recovery later?  I am not looking to read, restore or interrogate the contents just have the bkf files / jobs from tape. 

The reason (to give some context) is we need to take backups that have been performed via Backup Exec agents straight to tape to another site where there is no tape drive, so need them on portable media such as a USB hard drive.  We do not have the option to change the job methodology (ie. backup to disk first) due to lack of storage and te fact we need to be able to do this with existing jobs on tapes written over the last 24 months.

Any help, clues, insights or tips really appreciated!

[Dev_T · Accepted solution]

Hello,

Its not possible to copy BKF files from the TAPEs to Hard Drive as there are no BKF files on the TAPEs as the TAPE format is MTF (Microsoft Tape format)

If you want the Backups from the TAPE to the hard drive, create Backup up to Disk folders on Hard drive and run a Duplicate job of the Original job which went on the TAPE.

[andera223]

Hi,

I apreciate the tapes are written as MTF, I suppose I was looking for a util that would read the MTF data from the tape and create a BKF on the hard disk.  I have found repair utils that will read from tapes and extract file data but it is not clear if they can create BKFs on the HDD that can be restored later.

As I mentioned we cannot alter the original jobs that are on the tapes are you saying that if we create a backup to disk folder on the HDD on a fresh install of Backup Exec off the original LAN we could catalogue the tape, create a duplicate job to the original and it will 'mirror' the data on the tape to a bkf within the backup to disk folder on the HDD?  If so that's great, if not I've got the complete wrong end of the stick with your reply :)

Thanks again for the response, much apreciated

[Ken_Putnam]

are you saying that if we create a backup to disk folder on the HDD on a fresh install of Backup Exec off the original LAN we could catalogue the tape, create a duplicate job to the original and it will 'mirror' the data on the tape to a bkf within the backup to disk folder on the HDD?

Yes.  After the DUPLICATE from Tape to Disk, your B2D folder will look as if it was the target of a B2D job itself

[andera223]

Fantastic, thank you :)