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Tape Retention

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by rweraf13 Aug 29, 2001 last reply Sep 6, 2001

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How long should a DAT tape be used for standard backup saves, ie how many mounts? I use HP DDS2. Is there a UNIX cmd to read stats of each tape (I know I can use 'tape status' to read the drive stats). I have SCO-UNIX 5.

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by vinnyd Aug 30, 2001

If you are just using the Unix TAR or CPIO commands for backup, there is no command to read the stats on each tape.

You have to be using a third party backup program that keeps track of the tape usage.

On my own Unix System I test one tape each week by doing a full restore to a test folder to make sure that I can restore. If I get an error on the tape, then I remove it from my backup cycle and replace it with a new one.

Some tapes last longer than others, so I have never really found astandard number of mounts to use the tapes for.

by rweraf13 Sep 6, 2001

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by penguinsrule Sep 5, 2001

If you are rotating through the tapes pretty good you shouldn't have a lot to worry about. That tape shouldn't be used more than once a month. If you are using it more than that, then increase the number of tapes you have and rotate. If you do that you shouldn't have much of a problem.

Rick