Dell NetWorker 19.9 Administration Guide

Save set management on tape devices

Review the following information about save set status management for tape volumes.

A volume can contain save sets from multiple backup sessions, all with different retention policies. The mode of a tape volume might not change to recyclable in the media database for a long time. All data on the volume remains available for recovery by using either save set recovery or the scanner program. All entries for recyclable save sets remain in the media database.

You can also manually delete save set entries from the media database. However, the data on that volume is still available for recovery by using the scanner program. The scanner program retrieves the information that is needed to re-create entries in either the client file index, in the media database, or in both places:

• If you re-create the entries in the client file index, a user with the proper permissions can recover data by using the NetWorker client computer.
• If you re-create the save set entries in the media database, a UNIX root user or a member of the Windows Administrators group can recover data by using save set recovery.

Entries for a save set are automatically removed from the media database when NetWorker relabels the volume. You cannot recover data after NetWorker relabels a volume.

If a volume contains one or more deduplication save sets, the resource for the deduplication node that was used to create the backup must exist when the save sets pass their retention time. If the resource for the deduplication node has been deleted, NetWorker cannot mark the volume as recyclable in the media database or relabel the volume. Furthermore, when deduplication save sets pass their retention time, the NetWorker server begins the process of deleting the deduplicated data from the deduplication node. Therefore, deduplication data may not be recoverable by using the scanner program when the deduplication save set has passed its retention time.