Import tapes from Netvault?

[robotken]

Hi,

I've inherited a bunch of tapes from a now defunct Bakbone NetVault install. Is there any way to safely import these tapes into a new media set within Retrospect and create catalogs there?

Thanks!

Ken

[rhwalker]

Surely you jest. Retrospect 8 can't even read tapes made by any earlier version of Retrospect. What a concept that someone might need to restore data that was backed up by an earlier version of the same program. Can't imagine why anyone would ever need to retrieve old data....

 

When you choose a backup solution, you are making a commitment to a backup software vendor, and are relying on that vendor to provide a path for retrieving data from older versions of that program. Some vendors take that responsibility and trust seriously, some do not.

 

Your best hope would be to set up an isolated NetVault computer install to be able to retrieve that data as needed.

 

If you really want to preserve the full backup history on those NetVault tapes and create associated Retrospect media sets, you would have to restore the first session from those tapes onto an isolated volume, back that up with Retrospect, then restore the incrementals from the second session, back that up with Retrospect, repeat for each session on the NetVault tapes. Of course, you would lose the true dates of the NetVault backup sessions, but you would preserve all of the versions of the data, at least until Retrospect 9 arrives, which may or may not be able to read media sets made by Retrospect 8. While the past is not always a perfect predictor of the future, consider the history and non-portability of Retrospect backups with subsequent versions of the Retrospect program.

 

Depending on the numerical magnitude of "bunch", that may or may not be feasible. If the data on those tapes will be needed on an ongoing basis down the road, you may just want to dedicate a computer to that NetVault restore function for the old data.

 

Russ

[robotken]

Russ,

Thanks for the response. I literally burst out laughing at your reply. It would be even funnier if the truth of it wasn't so ridiculous. Considering I have a minimal monetary and time investment in restrospect at this point, is there any backup applications you do recommend?

Thanks,

Ken

[rhwalker]

There is no perfect solution, and this user-to-user support forum for Retrospect is really not the right place for that discussion.

 

It all depends on your backup policy requirements. That's really the first question you have to answer, then the alternatives pretty much fall into place.

 

Here's a list of the things that a good backup policy ought to address:

What Should a Good Backup Policy Address?

 

A good discussion of the choices can be found in the macos-x-server mailing list archives:

macos-x-server archives

 

This question comes up every couple of months on the macos-x-server list.

 

Russ