Advanced tape options: retensioning tapes and other advanced settings

Accessing advanced tape backup options
To access the Advanced tape backup options shown above:

1. Click Jobs in the navigation bar
2. Select the job to be edited and click Edit at the bottom of the window.
3. Click Destination on the left menu.
4. Click Advanced tape backup options to expand the section.

Specifying Removable Storage Manager (RSM) options

These are advanced tape drive settings that should generally only be modified when requested by the BackupAssist technical support team, or if you are having difficulties backing up to your tape drive. The default will settings work for most tape drives.

1. Perform tape inventory before each backup:
   An inventory of the tape drive determines what media has been inserted into the drive and whether the inserted tape has a media label associated with it. This inventory is required to check if the correct media was inserted (ie. that Tuesday's tape was inserted on Tuesday) and to append to a tape with existing data, should the backup schedule be configured for append mode backups.
   Configuring append mode backups
   1. Check Perform tape inventory before each backup to enable the tape inventory command.
      1. You can then specify the Inventory command timeout in minutes with the available slider.
         If the inventory command is not completed within this time, BackupAssist will continue on to the next process in the backup procedure.
2. Move tape to free media pool before each backup:
   Moving the tape to the free media pool in Windows ensures that the tape is free and available for use by applications such as Windows Backup and BackupAssist.
   
   1. Check Move tape to free media pool each backup to move tapes to the free media pool before each backup
      1. You can then specify the Free media command timeout in minutes with the available slider.
         If the free media command is not completed within this time, BackupAssist will continue on to the next process in the backup procedure.
3. Start the RSM service before each backup:
   This setting forces the RSM service in Windows to start before a backup commences. The RSM service allows for communication with your tape drive and any removable storage devices on your machine. The RSM service, by default should be started automatically but if it fails to start automatically, you can enable this option.
   1. Check Start the RSM service before each backup to ensure that the RSM service starts automatically.

Enabling tape retensioning

Retensioning a tape means that the tape is wound fully forwards and backwards at high speed. This acts to put tension back into the tape. Retensioning will keep your backup tapes in good condition, and minimize the possibility of errors.
Note: retensioning is more important for Travan drives than any other types of tape drive hardware.

1. Check Retension the tape after the backup to enable tape retensioning.