Managing Media

Selecting Media for Backup
Media Allocation PolicyPre-Allocating Media

Media Condition

CAUTION

Media Usage

Selecting Media for Backup

Data Protector media management automatically selects the most appropriate media for backup. This section explains various factors that influence how media are selected for backup.

You can influence how media are selected for backup using the media allocation policy. You can specify a Loose policy where any suitable media are used for backup, or a Strict policy where specific media have to be available in a predefined order.

See “Media Allocation Policy” on page 103 for more information.

You can specify the order in which media from a media pool will be used for backup. This order is called a pre-allocation list. For more information, see “Using a Pre-Allocation List of Media for Backup” on page 119.

The condition of the media also influences which media are selected for backup. For example, media in good condition are used for backup before media in fair condition. Media in poor condition are not used for backup.

Media that are marked as fair will only be used if there are no protected objects on the media. Otherwise, a mount request is issued, and data might be lost before backup completes.

See “Factors Influencing the Condition of Media” on page 132 for more information.

The media usage policy also influences which media are selected for backup. See “Media Usage Policy” on page 104 and “Appending Backups to Media” on page 117 for a detailed description.

Media Selection

This section describes the criteria Data Protector uses to select media for backup.

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Chapter 4