Barcodes

[kzinnack]

 

Long story short...

I was trying to recreate the success we had with our DLT autoloader in developing an in-house solution for barcoding tapes ourselves; it was quite easy.

 

Will retrospect function properly if the tapes are not barcoded???

 

I am having no luck finding a vendor for barcode labels to mark our VXA tapes. This includes pre-printed labels.

 

Any assistance is appreciated

 

Thanks

[Mayoff]

Barcodes are not required. I would not run with the library using a mixture of barcode and no barcode. Things will work better with all no bar codes or all bar codes.

[smartin]

 

Hi:

I used a company called disk-o-tape, out of Cleveland. Their phone # is 800-932-8273 . I've always liked their service, and they have VXA barcode labels. The prices from Jan/Feb 06 are .95 each, lots of 20, and .25 in lots of 1000. You can select a code, and a range. Again, I use this vender for tapes too. They know thewir stuff, and the prices seem cheap.

 

Hope it helps.

-Shon

[rhwalker]

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... I am having no luck finding a vendor for barcode labels to mark our VXA tapes. This includes pre-printed labels.

 

Any assistance is appreciated

 

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(1) Mayoff has given you the right info re Retrospect and unbarcoded tapes. But barcodes are nice.

 

(2) You don't say which VXA autoloader you use, nor do you say what DLT autoloader you are using. Unclear if these two autoloaders are the same. Info would be nice so we could help you better....

 

(3) That said, we use Tri-Optic (and have used them since the beginning with our Exabyte VXA-2 1x10 1u PacketLoader), and are very satisfied with them. Great quality, great customer service, quick turnaround, great web site, easy to order. They've got a complete line, and, I believe, are who most people use. Their web site is here:

Tri-Optic

Click the Catalog button, search on manufacturer, etc., for the proper label.

 

(4) FYI, if your autoloader is Exabyte's VXA, VXA-2, etc., autoloader, the correct Tri-Optic Exabyte label is # 1699-EB, and the info is here:

Tri-Optic 1699-EB

Tri-Optic 1699-EB View

 

There's also a six-character barcode that is supported by the Exabyte autoloaders, and that one is Tri-Optic # 1699-EB6, which is here:

Tri-Optic 1699-EB6

Tri-Optic 1699-EB6 View

 

Both are 40 cents each, 20 labels to a sheet. Very nice.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Russ

[Mayoff]

This is great info everyone. Very helpful!

[rhwalker]

Oh, and just a suggestion to you barcode newbies so you don't have to go through the process that we did of re-barcoding everything:

 

We've got a small firm, and one of the nice things about Retrospect is its user interface and snapshot model (as compared to other backup solutions). But one of the confusing things to a secretary who might need to go into the tape archives is the whole thing of "Backup Set" names, tape members within a backup set, backup sets for different media types, onsite/offsite backups, and barcodes. In a flash of rare insight (compared to my usual senior moments), I realized that proper planning and naming and barcoding could solve the whole mess, and make it easy for my secretary to locate and load the correct tape, if needed. But it takes a bit of foresight and planning. Solution:

 

(1) we named our VXA alternating backup sets "VXA Set A [001]", "VXA Set B [001]", and Retrospect increments the [xxx] backup set numbers as it automatically does scheduled "new media" backups. You can guess what the DAT backup sets are named. The A sets stay onsite for quick recovery, the B sets go offsite in case of fire (like the one we recovered from last year thanks to Retrospect).

 

(2) As Retrospect creates/adds members to the backup sets, it prepends the member numbers to each set name as "1-VXA Set A [001]", "2-VXA Set A [001]", etc.

 

(3) We use matching barcodes (well, as close as the eight-character barcode names allow) of 1-A 0001, 2-A 0001, etc.

 

Now, when Retrospect needs a tape, it's easy to match tapes, members, backup sets, etc. Just a suggestion so that you avoid the hours that it takes to re-barcode tapes and get Retrospect to update its associations of tapes and barcodes (yes, I've put in a product suggestion to make this an editable database for quicker update).

 

There's another minor issue (and yes, I've put in a product suggestion on this, too) that Retrospect, when needing a new tape (on new media or on adding a new member) will choose in apparent random order from whatever erased tapes it finds in the autoloader, disregarding whether an erased, barcoded, pre-named tape of the correct needed name already exists in the autoloader. This makes it impossible to have any control over what barcoded tape is used when, and, as a practical matter, prevents putting erased tapes in the autoloader - you have to wait for the media request for a tape, then put the needed tape in. I am hopeful that a future release will add the needed test to see if a correctly-named erased tape already exists in the autoloader.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Russ

[kzinnack]

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(2) You don't say which VXA autoloader you use, nor do you say what DLT autoloader you are using. Unclear if these two autoloaders are the same. Info would be nice so we could help you better....

 

 

 

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Apologies,

 

Exabyte VXA-2 1x10 1u PacketLoader. DLT was not revealed as it was merely a comparison to a simple in-house solution already implemented... physical cartridge dimensions and 'slide-in' barcode area lend itself to this.

 

All of your other information was helpful, also.

 

Thanks

[kzinnack]

 

Thanks to all... your input has been very helpful!!

 

Have a great weekend

[CallMeDave]

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As Retrospect creates/adds members to the backup sets, it prepends the member numbers to each set name as "1-VXA Set A [001]", "2-VXA Set A [001]", etc.

 

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One of the things I've done for clients is to move away from the 1,2,3/A,B,C model. For a Berkeley firm, for example, I might suggest "1-VXA Blue " and "1-VXA Gold." A Palo Alto firm might get Red and White, or you can pickup something about their services or product line. I've found this _can_ be easier for the casual user who doesn't live inside of Backup Sets all day long.