By now you should be able to estimate the quantity of media required for a full media rotation. Additional media will be required in case you:
•Assume 10% overhead added by Data Protector to the data on the media for directory and file information. This information is already calculated in the backup preview size.
•After the media no longer fulfill the usage criteria, they need to be replaced.
•Expect some growth in the volume of data to be backed up.
Media management before backups begin
Before you can use media for backup, media must be initialized, or formatted, for use with Data Protector. You can either initialize (format) media manually, or you can let Data Protector automatically initialize (format) media when the media are selected for backup. See “Selecting media for backups ” on page 147.
Initializing or formatting media
What is initializing (formatting) media?
Before Data Protector uses media for backup, it initializes (formats) the media. This saves the information about each medium (medium ID, description and location) in the IDB and also writes this information on the medium itself (to the medium header). When you initialize (format) media, you also specify to which media pool the media belong.
If media are not initialized (formatted) before backup, Data Protector can initialize (format) blank media during backup with the default labels, if the pool policy is set accordingly. The first backup to such media will take more time. For more information, see “Selecting media for backups ” on page 147.
Labeling Data Protector media
How Data Protector labels media?
When you add media for use with Data Protector by initializing (formatting) media, you must specify the media label which helps you identify the media later. If a device has a barcode reader, the barcode is automatically displayed as a prefix of the medium description. A barcode provides a unique ID for each medium in the IDB. You can optionally use the barcode as medium label during the initialization of the medium.
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