Restoring from tape archive is similar to restoring from disk archive. The archive catalogs are stored in the appliance database.
To successfully restore an archive from tape, be sure the tape drive’s read_blocksize and compression settings are the same as the write_blocksize and compression settings used when the tape was originally archived. If these settings are different, archiving may not be able to read any data from the tape.
If the tapes are from another system or this system has been recently recovered from disaster, the catalogs can be imported from tape. To do this, insert the tape into the drive (or tapes into the autoloader) and import. Autoloader tapes can be imported without regard to order; the archiving system determines the correct order automatically. (If some tapes from the archive set to be imported/restored are missing or bad, data from other tapes is still available.) See To import archive sets.
When performing a restore for tapes with barcodes, the system reads the barcodes and determines the correct location of the tapes. There are no special restore procedures for tapes that have barcodes.
1 Select Archive > Status.
2 Select a client or backup and restore as you would for disk.
3 For tapes with barcodes, click on Tape Details to see information about volume, tape device serial number, and barcode number. (The Tape Details button does not display for media that is not tape.)
4 The system automatically identifies the tape, loads it (if the tape is present in the autoloader), and informs you if the correct tape cannot be found for the specified archive.
5 Once the tape is identified, the restore starts.
6 For restore of an archive that originally spanned tapes, ensure that all spanned tapes are in the autoloader.