Auto Media Management With Autochanger Devices

The auto media management feature further automates the backup procedure. It frees you from the task of prelabeling volumes before backup. When you enable the auto media management attribute in the Jukeboxes resource, Backup assumes that the volumes loaded in the autochanger can be handled exclusively as Backup media. Backup volumes that appear unlabeled are considered blank and are automatically labeled, mounted, and overwritten with new data. Backup only uses volumes that it considers unlabeled if it cannot locate a writable volume or a volume ready for recycling.

Backup does not recognize the following volume labels and considers these volumes unlabeled and available for use:

• Volumes without a label.

• Volumes labeled with something other than a Backup label.

• Volumes with Backup labels that were written in a density different from the device in which it is currently loaded. For example, if you performed Backup backups on an older 8mm tape drive, a newer 8mm tape drive might not be able to read the volumes from the older device because a different density was used to write the data.

Be careful about sharing Backup volumes between different backup devices if you have auto media management enabled. You could potentially relabel and overwrite valuable data. If you place or store other volumes you do not want Backup to use in the autochanger, place them in slots that are not included in the available slot range assigned for Backup to use.

The auto media management attribute is located in both the Jukeboxes and Devices resources. For autochangers, you only need to enable the Auto Media Management attribute in the Jukeboxes resource. Backup does not allow you to enable Auto Media Management in the Devices resource if the device is located in an autochanger.

If you back up to a standalone device and want to use the Auto Media Management feature, see "Standalone Device Configuration ".