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Question

How to use aged tapes again

  • 11 June 2024
  • 9 replies
  • 64 views
E
Badge +4

Hi everybody,

I get a message from the tape library that there are no free/spare tapes left (see first picture below).

Can somebody tell me how can I use the aged tapes again and what I need to click to mark them usable again? In the picture below you can see that I have no spares, but in scratch pool (Media in the Library) there are many tapes that no longer have any data (see photo below). How can I mark one of them and assign it for reuse?

It would be a great help to me if someone could tell me how I can use the aged tapes again.

9 replies

S
Rank
Userlevel 2
Badge +9

Hi @Eugen ,

 

You can delete these tapes and discover them to reuse.

 

Icon indicated for the tapes is retired tapes

ref: Identifying Media Icons (commvault.com)

 

regards,

Suleman

 

E
Badge +4

Hi Suleman,

Do I need to delete the tape before use it again? Can't I just mark a tape as reusable using the option (See picture below)? It is in Geman, but if you do this in your english environoment you will find the same options in English.

 

 

S
Rank
Userlevel 2
Badge +9

Hi @Eugen ,

 

It sometimes causes trouble to better option it to delete and discover.

 

Regards,

Suleman

E
Badge +4

Ok, and how do I discover? Can you describe shortly or send a picture where I can see what to click on.

A
Rank
Userlevel 2
Badge +5

Hi @Eugen ,

    The icon that appears on the screenshot that you shared is of aged tape. Typically aged tape should automatically be moved to the scratch pool for reuse. However, one important point is  that all jobs contained on the tape must be aged for that Tape to return to the Scratch Pool for reuse.

Can you pls follow the steps to confirm the same.

On the tape right click and select View>View Contents

Verify there are no jobs appearing as valid.

You can also run a Data Retention Forecast and Compliance Report to get more details.

https://documentation.commvault.com/2023e/expert/data_retention_forecast_and_compliance_report_overview.html

Review the report for any Barcodes that are being held beyond configured Retention.

Follow these documentation links for more info.

https://documentation.commvault.com/2023e/expert/media_recycling.html

E
Badge +4

Thank you very much for your answer Abhishek Narulkar,

I have checked the content of aged tapes. There is no data available (see picture below). Can you please write to me where do I click to reuse the media? If you could describe it shortly or send a picture it would be a great help for me. Because then I would mark some of them for reuse purpose.

 

 

A
Rank
Userlevel 2
Badge +5

Hi @Eugen 

Can you confirm if your tape barcode appears in which of these groups?

 

E
Badge +4

Of course I can do this. I have chosen one tape with one barcode (see on the picture) and this tape is in the scratch pool and doesn’t have any data (empty). Can I reuse it? What should I click on? This tape appears also in the “Tape in Library” → see picture below.

 

 

 

J
Rank
Userlevel 1
Badge +7

Tape Media moved to a ScratchPool / ErsatzPool (German), will be automatically reused for the Storage Policy Copies, selecting new media from the specified scratch pool.

if you have multiple scratch pools, make sure, that the barcode selection rules are properly defined to automatically return expired media to the correct pool.

no need to delete / discover the media

no need to erase the media

they should be used / selected automatically based on the selection criteria defined in the scratch pool properties (least recent / most recent used)

verify the storage policy copy -> data paths settings, whether a valid media agent / tape library / scratch pool combination is listed as an active data path.
 

 

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