Scratch Pools - How To

Create New Scratch Pools

To create a scratch pool:

From the CommCell Browser, right click the Media By Groups icon for the library in which you want the scratch pool created, and then click New Scratch Pool from the short-cut menu.
In the Spare Group Properties dialog box, enter the name of the new scratch pool in the Name field. Optionally, you can set the low watermark in the Low Watermark field.
When you first create a scratch pool, it is empty. Before the scratch pool can be used as a source of fresh media, you must either import media into it from outside the library or move media into it from another scratch pool.

To specify the minimum number of media in a scratch pool:

From the CommCell Browser, right-click the scratch pool for which you wish to specify the minimum number, and then click Properties.
From the General tab use the option provided in Watermark for Spare Media in the pool area to establish a minimum number of media in the scratch pool.
When you are satisfied with your changes, click OK.

To move a media from one scratch pool to another:

In the left pane of the CommCell Browser, select the scratch pool containing the media that you want to move. The contents of the scratch pool are displayed in the right pane of the Browser.
From the right pane of the CommCell Browser, right-click the media that you want to move, and then click Move.
In the Move Media dialog box, select the scratch pool to which you want to move the media. If it is cleaning media, select Cleaning Media pool.
Click OK to complete the transfer.
The selected media is reassigned to the destination scratch pool.

To move a number of unspecified media from one scratch pool to another:

From the CommCell Browser, right-click the scratch pool from which you want to move media (i.e., the source pool), and then click Move Media from the short-cut menu.
In the Move Media dialog box, enter the number of media to be moved in the No. of Media to be moved field. Select the scratch pool into which you want to move the media from the Destination Scratch Pool list.
Click OK to complete the transfer.
The selected media is reassigned to the destination scratch pool.

The following scratch pools cannot be deleted:

A scratch pool that is associated with a storage policy copy.
A scratch pool that has been designated as the default scratch pool for the library.

To delete a scratch pool:

From the CommCell Browser, right-click the scratch pool that you want to delete, and then click Delete.
A confirmation prompt appears, asking if you are sure that you want to delete this scratch pool. Click Yes to delete.
The scratch pool is deleted and the CommCell Browser display is updated and all of its spares are displayed as undiscovered media.

To change the default scratch pool:

From the CommCell Browser, right-click the library for which you wish to change the default scratch pool, and then click Properties.
Select the name of the scratch pool that you wish to designate as the default scratch pool from the Default Scratch Pool list.
Click OK to save the changes.

To change the scratch pool for a storage policy copy:

From the right pane of the CommCell Browser, right-click the storage policy copy for which you wish to change the scratch pool, and click Properties.
From the General tab of the Copy Properties dialog box, select another scratch pool from the Scratch Pool list.
Click OK to save your changes.