The erase spare media operation ensures that old data from removable media (tapes
and optical platters) are not recoverable once the media is recycled. This is done
as follows:
On tapes, the On-Media-Label (OML) is over-written by a new OML to indicate
the erased status.
On Optical media, the platter is formatted and a new OML is written.
Only spare, retired and recycled media from tape and optical libraries can be
erased. Note, however, that the erase media operation cannot be performed on
disk
and stand-alone drives. Once a media is erased by this operation, data cannot be
retrieved using Media Explorer.
Note that the Erase Spare Media operation will not erase the following
data:
Data associated with another CommCell, if the option to overwrite media
from another CommCell is disabled in the Media tab of the Library
Properties dialog box.
Data written by other applications, if the option to overwrite media when
content verification fails is disabled in the Media tab of the Library
Properties dialog box. For more information on this option, see
Library Properties
- Media tab.
The Erase Media operation is a low priority job, and is displayed in the Job
Controller window. It can be killed, if necessary.
The first step in erasing spare media is to ensure that the media is marked
for erase, when the media is recycled. This can be done from the Media
tab of the Storage Policy Copy dialog box.
Enable the Mark Media
on to be Erased After Recycling option to mark the media as erasable,
once all the data in the media is pruned and the media is recycled.
The Erase Spare Media operation erases spare media that are marked
as erasable by a storage policy copy. This operation can be performed immediately
or scheduled. This can be done from the Erase Spare Media dialog box.
All spare media that are marked as erasable and available within the library
are displayed in this dialog box.
A specific spare or an retired media can also be erased immediately from
the CommCell Console. This can be by done by the selecting the Erase Media
option for the media.
More than one spare or retired media can be erased
in a single operation by selecting multiple spare media and choose the Erase
Media option for the selected media.