STORE and TurboSTORE/iX Products Manual (B5151-90003)

32 Chapter2

Managing Backups and Backup Media

Maintaining a Backup Library

Establish a library for storing backup media and backup records. Include the following in

your library:

• A large stock of new or scratch media to use for backups. (Scratch media are used media

containing information that is no longer needed.)

• A record of each tape's (or other media) contents. It should be easy to ﬁnd the backup

media needed to restore the system in the event of a failure.

• Your actual backup media.

Maintaining a Large Stock Of Backup Media

You need to maintain a large and easily accessible stock of available backup media,

because you can never be sure ahead of time exactly how many you will need for each

backup. The amount of media you will need depends on how much data is being stored,

and what STORE and TurboSTORE options, such as data compression, are being used.

The amount of data on your system, and whether you are doing a full or partial backup

also greatly inﬂuence the amount of backup media required.

Using new units of backup media ensures the best possible data integrity. You can, of

course, safely reuse backup media if they are in good condition and if they contain

outdated information. The information on used backup media is outdated when the purge

date on the label has passed.

To help judge whether a used tape is in good condition, you can use the cycle ﬁeld of the

Hewlett-Packard standard sticky tape label to track the number of times a tape has been

used. Tapes wear out and become unreliable after being used many times. To determine

whether a tape is still usable, consult the manufacturer's recommendations.

When using labeled media, the expiration date in the label can be used to recycle media.

Keeping Backup Records

Each time you create a backup, have STORE display a listing describing what ﬁles were

stored on each piece of media. STORE's SHOW=OFFLINE option sends this listing, by default,

to the line printer. For example:

:FILE T;DEV=TAPE

:STORE @.OPERATOR.SYS;*T;SHOW=OFFLINE

File these reports in a special ﬁling cabinet or attach them directly to the appropriate tape

reel (or other media). Label each item according to the instructions provided in Chapter 3,

"Preparing Storage Devices."

Storage of Backup Media

Backup media may be the only copy of current or previous information stored from your

system. When you need to restore information from backup media, you should be able to

easily ﬁnd the item you need. Your library enables you to maintain complete copies of your