The following is a guide to the various media statuses displayed in NetVault Device Management.
Media displayed as “Unknown” indicates that the presence of the media has been reported by the library/drive and acknowledge by NetVault but no other details are available to NetVault. This condition will typically occur when using a library that does not have a drive added, or the library does not have a barcode scanner, barcode scanner not enabled, or barcodes not affixed to the media. Since the library can not report details on the media, NetVault will mark it as “Unknown” until it was able to read the media header. NetVault will try to read any media in an “Unknown” state during device initialization (e.g. NetVault service startup) automatically. “Unknown” media will not be assigned to a job until it has been read.
This will generally be accompanied with a media header (label). "Foreign" indicates that the media is recognized as NetVault media but not currently in the media catalog (Media Database) so additional details are not available until a complete "Scan" is performed. During this operation, the entire tape will be read and checked for index information. If an index is encountered that is not part of the database, it will be added. "Foreign" media will not be assigned to a job until it has been scanned. Rebuilding the NetVault Media Database will sometimes result in media being in the "Foreign" state as the media catalog may be incomplete.
Indicates that the media has been read and does not contain a NetVault recognizable header/format. These can include tapes written using Unix CPIO, Windows NT Backup, or other software. Tapes marked as "Other" will not be assigned to a job until it has been "Blanked".
WARNING
Blanking a tape will destroy its header and any information on the tape will not be restorable.
There are a number of conditions that can result in media being marked as "Bad”. “Bad” media indicates that a series of errors had occurred with the specific piece of media and/or the specific drive. As a result, NetVault will mark the media as suspect until such time that it has been confirm otherwise by the administrator. Events such as excessive read/write errors, media alignment issues, drive failing ejects are just a few examples of how a piece of media can be marked “Bad”. Although “Bad” media can indeed be faulty, often times this media status is subsequent to other hardware related issues. Further troubleshooting of the drive and library robot should be performed in order to determine the root cause of the “Bad” media. “Bad” media will not be assigned to a job.
Media is marked as read-only when significant WRITE errors are detected. NetVault will still attempt to use this media for restores but will not allow any further backups to it.
Media is marked as unusable when significant READ errors are detected. NetVault will not use this media. A tape will get marked as unusable if it fails in two separate drives.
