rupsty Posted December 3, 2009 Report Share Posted December 3, 2009 Everything is working well so far. I do have a question: I don't think I've set up my media set tapes to read bar codes - which I did actually put on the tapes. This was probably my oversight. If I decide to take the tapes out and put them back in the library (Tandberg T24) in a different order, will retrospect know which tape is which? The reason I ask is that I want to keep a set of tapes offsite and I'm concerned that if I take them out of the library, Retrospect won't know what to do with them once I put them back in. Hope this makes sense. Thanks, Rusty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted December 3, 2009 Report Share Posted December 3, 2009 It's all described in the manual. Oh, forgot, there is no manual. First, understand that Retrospect puts a header on each tape, describing the media set and member information for that tape so that Retrospect can verify that it's using the right tape - Retrospect tries very hard to make sure that it doesn't overwrite the wrong tape member. If the algorithm is similar to Retrospect 6's algorithm, in the absence of barcoded tapes, Retrospect maintains a cache of which slots hold which tapes. When a tape is needed from the library, Retrospect first goes to the expected slot, loads that tape, and examines the header. If it is the header for the expected tape, then Retrospect proceeds to use that tape. If it's the wrong tape, then Retrospect scans the library, loading and unloading each tape, reading the headers, and rebuilds the cache of which slots hold which tapes. Bottom line, the barcodes are just a time saver so that Retrospect can go right to the correct tape in the library. It will always verify the header before writing to a tape member. Get some barcodes and start using them. Really. Once Retrospect reads the barcodes it will start associating them with the proper tape member, so one way to fill up the database is to start a verify on each tape (then stop after the header has been read), then eject the tape, move to next one. Repeat for all tapes in the library. Do it now before you get lots of tapes that aren't barcoded. Tapes without barcodes end up being a mess, and you won't understand this until you are in the middle of a critical restore and can't find the right tape, perhaps because you forgot to write the correct stuff on the handwritten label you put on each tape. I suggest TriOptic for barcodes. We've been using them for years, and they pretty much are the standard. Excellent customer service, fast turnaround, full selection, reasonable price, etc. Tri-Optic barcodes Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rupsty Posted December 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2009 Hey thanks! Great explanation. Is it possible to tell Retrospect to start reading bar codes AFTER having created media sets and writing to them? Rusty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted December 3, 2009 Report Share Posted December 3, 2009 Is it possible to tell Retrospect to start reading bar codes AFTER having created media sets and writing to them? I thought that I answered that question upthread: Once Retrospect reads the barcodes it will start associating them with the proper tape member, so one way to fill up the database is to start a verify on each tape (then stop after the header has been read), then eject the tape, move to next one. Repeat for all tapes in the library. Do it now before you get lots of tapes that aren't barcoded. Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rupsty Posted December 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2009 Ahhh. Sorry - I didn't understand it until now. Thanks, Rusty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rupsty Posted December 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2009 Is there a way to tell if the bar code has been read? When I view the individual members of the media set, there's a blank entry called "Barcode". This tells me the barcode hasn't been read. Am I right? Incidentally, after looking at all the settings I could, I believe I did have "Use Barcodes" checked wherever it was possible. Thanks, Rusty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted December 3, 2009 Report Share Posted December 3, 2009 Is there a way to tell if the bar code has been read? When I view the individual members of the media set, there's a blank entry called "Barcode". This tells me the barcode hasn't been read. Am I right? Unable to tell. The program has many bugs, and there is no manual. I suggest that you give EMC Retrospect Support a call to inquire. If their support burden gets large enough due to the missing manual and number of outstanding bugs, perhaps priorities will change on those two fronts. Here is the contact information: Contact EMC Retrospect Support Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rupsty Posted December 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2009 Cool, thank you very much for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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