LTO 6 Ultrium Data Cartridge/ Tape Maximum Capacity

[LRI2013]

Hi guys,

 

I'm backing up a G-Raid (4TB) on a 2.5TB (uncompressed) ultrium 6 data cartridge/ tape and I was just wondering what would happen once the tape reached its maximum capacity as the quantum ultrium 6 dc tape drive only has 1 slot?

Would i be able to insert another tape and pick up where the first one ended or not? is there any way to do that via Scripts in retrospect?

 

This is my first back up so any help/ advice is appreciated

Thanks

[Lennart_T]

Yes, you will be able to use another tape and Retrospect will continue.

If you have enabled e-mail notification, you will get a message "waiting for media". So Retrospect is waiting for you to exchange tapes.

[twickland]

Would i be able to insert another tape and pick up where the first one ended or not? is there any way to do that via Scripts in retrospect?

To add to Lennart's comment, if you're following standard procedure and having a compare phase in your backup script, you will need to stay with the tape drive after inserting the next tape member, as you will need to eject the new member and reinsert the previous member to begin the compare phase for the current source; then reinsert the new member to complete the compare phase and move on to the next source. You should also be sure that the media request timeout option in General Preferences has not been checked if you don't want the script to stop when a new tape is needed and you don't respond within the time limit.

 

On the other hand, if adding a new member in the middle of a script execution would be inconvenient, you can use the media request timeout to end the script, and simply insert a new tape member prior to the next scheduled execution.

 

When we were using DDS drives, we had two drives to enable automatically moving to a new tape member. Since switching to LTO, we have been using only a single tape drive, due to the higher hardware cost of these drives. Because LTO tapes have so much more capacity, the infrequent tape swaps are not a big inconvenience.

 

This is my first back up ...

 

...and you're using Retrospect 6? (Just confirming.)