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Recycle backup strategy help


9jmc9

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Hello, I'm new to Retrospect and this forum so take it easy if this is a stupid question...

 

I’ve inherited an IT position which includes backup responsibilities.

The current backup strategy is this:

Retrospect 5.6.1.

Scripted normal backup to tape.

One backup set for each day of the week, Monday – Friday.

M-T-W-Th sets are at 4 tapes each, eg.: Monday 1, Tuesday 1 etc. up to Monday 4, Tuesday 4, etc.

Friday is at 8 tapes, for a total of 24 tapes right now.

I assume the previous back up admin (unavailable to be questioned directly on this matter) was reusing the M-Th tapes on a revolving basis as they became full and adding new tapes to the Friday set as they became full. I believe the reasoning behind this strategy was that the Friday backup would go back 2-3 years and keep growing while the M-Th sets would not grow infinitely but would stop at 4 tapes per set with information going back 1 year to avoid a huge number of tapes.

 

To preface my question, as I understand it a recycle backup on a multi member set will clear the catalog for that set, essentially “erasing” all members of the set from existence as far as Retrospect is concerned.

 

My question is should I do a recycle backup of the Mon – Thurs. sets when the 4th tape of each set reaches its max, thereby starting a new set but losing approx. 12 months of backup in one action, OR can I erase Tape 1 and add it to the set as Tape 5, thereby keeping tapes 2,3,4 intact and only losing 3 months of backup at a time, (When tape 5 fills I would erase tape 2 and add it as tape 6, 3 would become 7, 4 would become 8, etc. etc.).

Or will removing a tape from the beginning of the set render the rest of the set useless? I realize the information on the erased tapes would be unrecoverable but I’d rather erase them one at a time over a year rather than erase a whole set at once as I believe recycle would.

 

I hope I stated that clearly enough, thanks in advance for any input…

 

jmc

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