Tape Services

Tape Auditing

Prepare yourself for unexpected restore requests with a thorough tape audit.

Damaged tape archives can prevent you from conducting restore requests and destroying end of life data correctly. Manage your tape library for easy data access and identification when urgent restore requests arise.

Mitigate Risk

Poorly marked, mislabelled or damaged tape archives can prevent you from conducting restore requests and destroying end of life data correctly.

At Ontrack, we can help you:

Prevent accidental destruction of archive data
Avoid compliance or litigation issues
Decrease the time taken to search and restore data
Reduce costs associated with retaining legacy tape data

The danger of unmarked backup tapes

Accidental removal or destruction, even though the media is still within the legal retention period

Searching for data can become time consuming and resource intensive

Data required for legal proceedings is difficult to find or no longer available

Unmarked tapes increase the risk of potential data breaches

Get a quick overview of your archived legacy data

Ontrack helps you efficiently catalogue your tape media:

Prevent the accidental destruction of archive data, especially if the media is still within the legal retention period
Avoid compliance or litigation issues
Reduce the time to find and recover data
Identify any media degradation issues
Understand the data you have for GDPR compliance
Reduce the cost of storing older tape data

Tape Auditing Services

Tape audit process and consultation.

All tape audits can be tailored to your needs, but our basic process includes:

Archive Review

We search for tapes that might be unsupported by your current IT infrastructure or that have been catalogued incorrectly.

Accessibility Check

Understand what storage technology you have in house and verify that your team have the skills and time required to access legacy data.

Data Retention Analysis

We can identify any end of life data within your tape library and assist with destroying it effectively and in a timely manner.

Media Evaluation

We can help you test the health of your tape archives to avoid discovering damaged media during a time critical restoration request.

Your tape audit will include:

1.

Detailed data integrity and inconsistency reports.

2.

Support for all tape and media formats.

3.

Media health and degradation check.

4.

A dedicated and experienced Project Manager to guide you through the process.

Trust the tape experts

Ontrack can help you with any tape project, no matter how complex.

World leading data management services and software since 1985
International coverage with laboratories across the globe for multi-site / jurisdiction cases
24/7/365 availability
Over 30 years of technical experience and R&D capabilities to solve even the most challenging tape situations
Proprietary software tools that work independently of backup infrastructure/software
Strict security policies with chain of custody if required

Tape Auditing FAQs.

How do I find out which tape is storing a particular file?

That depends on the software and tape library system you are using.In some tape storage software you can - as the tape library administrator or operator - use a certain code command to track down a certain file on a tape. However, this is only possible if you know the exact name of the required file. There is still the chance that you will find a wrong copy of the file. The main issue is that, since you have several copies of the same single file with any advanced backup system and you are not able to identify which one you are looking for, you can only guess the exact name.A simple solution to this would be to create an index and catalogue of tape and archive media, which is more time and cost-effective if you need to access specific files on your tapes.

How do I tell what content is stored on a tape?

This depends on the particular case. If the tape hardware system is still up and running, it is quite easy to create the content list of the tapes without restoring all the content from all the tapes. There is usually some basic functionality in the tape storage system with which you can create and access a content list and find out what is on the tapes.Without the backup software, you can at least find out what is on the tapes, even though you cannot restore the backup. If you have neither the tape system nor the backup software available, you should definitely contact a data recovery expert who specialises in tapes.

I can't find the backup software and/or hardware to restore my tapes. What can I do?

You can try to get a copy of the backup software by contacting a software vendor or distributor online or in a shop. If you are affected by some of the common tape and backup media problems, or the software is very old and not available anymore, simply get in contact with data recovery experts. Ontrack has very specific tools and hardware for a range of tape media, which aren't available in the market anymore, to gain access to your tape data.

My server recognises the tape drive but not the tape library. What can I do?

This is usually due to the driver not working correctly or the backup/tape storage system software not properly installed. Reinstall them, then try to access the library. If this is still not possible, you should get in contact with data recovery experts, such as Ontrack, who have very specialised tools to recover the library and its content from a range of tape media.

Connect with Ontrack to RECEIVE DATA RECOVERY INSIGHTS AND TIPS, information about industry events, and much more. Subscribe to OUR NEWSLETTER now!

KLDiscovery Ontrack Pte Ltd, 148 Electric Road 12/F, Unit 1203A, North Point, Hong Kong (see all locations)

By Device

By Solution

By Industry

Data Recovery