Guidelines for Drive Maintenance and Media Handling

A backup tape that cannot be read is useless. So, periodically clean and check your tape drives to ensure correct operation. See your hardware manuals for instructions on procedures for cleaning a tape drive. You can check your tape hardware by doing either of the following:

• Copying some files to the tape, reading the files back, and then comparing the original files with the copied files.

• Using the -v option of the ufsdump command to verify the contents of the media with the source file system. The file system must be unmounted or completely idle for the -v option to be effective.

Be aware that hardware can fail in ways that the system does not report.

Always label your tapes after a backup. If you are using a backup strategy similar to the strategies suggested in Chapter 23, Backing Up and Restoring UFS File Systems (Overview), in System Administration Guide: Devices and File Systems, you should indicate on the label “Tape A,” “Tape B,” and so forth. This label should never change. Every time you do a backup, make another tape label that contains the following information:

• The backup date

• The name of the machine and file system that is backed up

• The backup level

• The tape number (1 of n, if the backup spans multiple volumes)

• Any information specific to your site

Store your tapes in a dust-free safe location, away from magnetic equipment. Some sites store archived tapes in fireproof cabinets at remote locations.

You should create and maintain a log that tracks which media (tape volume) stores each job (backup) and the location of each backed-up file.