SCDPM Tape Question - Tape Available - Free (contains data)

[Fazza]

I've just put 7 tapes in to our SuperLoader Tape Library that were used in our previous DPM server some time ago.

 

They are coming up as Tape Available - Free (contains data).

 

Silly question time: do I need to erase these tapes or will DPM overwrite the data that is already on it?

 

Thanks

[Modey]

I've just put 7 tapes in to our SuperLoader Tape Library that were used in our previous DPM server some time ago.

 

They are coming up as Tape Available - Free (contains data).

 

Silly question time: do I need to erase these tapes or will DPM overwrite the data that is already on it?

 

Thanks

 

You should be able to right click the tapes and then pick 'Mark as Free'. In which case it will wipe the tape. If it thinks the contents are still part of an active protection group then you will need to use a powershell script to do a force wipe. That or un-protect the resource that it reckons is still being protected.

 

Depends on the original retention goal that was set also, how long it will want to keep hold of the data.

 

p.s Don't pick 'Erase Tape' when right clicking unless you want to wait a long time.

[Fazza]

They are marked as Free (contains data) so I'm assuming they are ready to be used and DPM will overwrite the existing data on them?

[Modey]

In that case, they should be fine to use.

[Fazza]

In that case, they should be fine to use.

 

Unfortunately not.

 

I told it to erase one of the tapes and it failed because of a protection agent failure so Free (contains data) doesn't seem to mean it can actually be used as is which is a bit confusing.

[Modey]

What happens if you right click the tape then pick 'Mark as Free'?

 

If that doesn't work, like I said in my original post, you will either need to use a powershell script (there are a few knocking about online) which will allow you to do a forced wipe of the tape. Or un-protect the resources that are backed up on the tape.

 

It should be possible to examine the tape contents and check what's on there and when it was set to expire...

 

Final thing to check is the type of tape. You could be looking at an LTO2 tape and trying to write to it with an incompatible drive (eg LTO4).

[adamf]

On my installation of DPM it will happily overwrite tapes that are "Free (Contains Data)". I use this powershell script to mark them as free.

 

Copy and paste that into notepad, save as a PS1 file and run in the DPM shell.

 

param ([string] $DPMServerName, [string] $LibraryName, [string[]] $TapeLocationList)

if(("-?","-help") -contains $Args[0])
{
Write-Host "Usage: ForceFree-Tape.ps1 [[-DPMServerName] ] [-LibraryName]  [-TapeLocationList] "
Write-Host "Example: Force-FreeTape.ps1 -LibraryName "My library" -TapeLocationList Slot-1, Slot-7"
exit 0
}

if (!$DPMServerName) 
{
$DPMServerName = Read-Host "DPM server name: "
if (!$DPMServerName) 
{
Write-Error "Dpm server name not specified."
exit 1
}

}
if (!(Connect-DPMServer $DPMServerName))
{
Write-Error "Failed to connect To DPM server $DPMServerName"
exit 1
}

$library = @(Get-DPMLibrary $DPMServerName )
if ($library.count -eq 0)
{
Write-Error "Failed to find library with user friendly name $LibraryName"
exit 1
}

if (!$LibraryName)
{
$library | foreach {$_.userfriendlyname}
$LibraryName = Read-Host "Library name (cut & paste from above): "
if (!$LibraryName)
{

Write-Error "Library name not specified."
exit 1
}
}

if (!$TapeLocationList)
{
$tmp = Read-Host "Tape location: "
$TapeLocationList=$tmp.split(",")
write-host "Processing this slot list..."
$TapeLocationList
if (!$TapeLocationList)
{
Write-Error "Tape location not specified."
exit 1
}
}

foreach ($media in @(Get-Tape -DPMLibrary $library))
{
if ($TapeLocationList -contains $media.Location)
{
if ($media -is [Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.LibraryManagement.ArchiveMedia]) 
{
foreach ($rp in @(Get-RecoveryPoint -Tape $media))
{
Get-RecoveryPoint -Datasource $rp.Datasource | Out-Null
Write-Verbose "Removing recovery point created at $($rp.RepresentedPointInTime) for tape in $($media.Location)."
Remove-RecoveryPoint -RecoveryPoint $rp -ForceDeletion -Confirm:$false
}

Write-Verbose "Setting tape in $($media.Location) as free."
Set-Tape -Tape $media -Free
}
else
{
Write-Error "The tape in $($media.Location) is a cleaner tape."
}
}
}

 

Mark as free will be greyed out if DPM thinks they are already free.