Rebuilding catalog in increments? *kinda urgent*

[audioz2]

Hi all,

 

We've got a biggie here. The catalog to our Backup Server was corrupted and must be rebuilt, as the Repair function will not work on it. The backup set is on super-DLT tapes and comprises 38 tapes right now. At about 4 hours per tape to rebuild, you can understand the complete ridiculousness of the situation. The rebuild is running right now, but we may have to retrieve something from another Backup Set sometime in the next week. The last thing I want to do is stop the rebuild and have to restart it from scratch.

 

I want to be 100% sure that, if I stop the rebuild by telling Retrospect there are no further tapes, I will be able to resume the operation through "Update existing catalog". Logic says it should work, but it also says there should be more safeguards around the crucial catalog files.

 

Sorry if this sounds prissy, but I'm not looking for "I think", I'm looking for "I know".

 

Thanks in advance

 

JC

 

PS: there really should be a post icon with a little smiley pulling his hair out.

[rhwalker]

There's no certainty except death and taxes. No one can give you a "100%" guarantee, certainly not those of us who are simply fellow users in this user-to-user support forum. You could have a power failure during the rebuild, or your building could burn down while it is going on, and we didn't write the code. The only code I can guarantee is code that I wrote.

 

But see this thread, which indicates that your perception of the logic is correct:

Rebuild thread

 

Russ

[Mayoff]

Update existing catalog should allow you to continue a rebuild at a later date.

[audioz2]

Allright... I'll dive in, then.

 

thanks a bunch!

[CallMeDave]

Quote:

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At about 4 hours per tape to rebuild, you can understand the complete ridiculousness of the situation.

 

---

 

I do understand. A well considered backup strategy will always have secondary and tertiary backups in place, which should include saving copies of critical data files such as Retrospect Catalogs.

 

If you'd made a copy of your current catalog last week, you could have used that as the starting point for a Rebuild. You'd likely have been done in a couple of hours, instead of a couple of weeks.

 

Einstein said it best; time=money.

 

Dave