Removable Storage and Backup

Backup is a graphical tool that is used with a variety of storage media to back up and restore files on volumes using any file system supported by Windows 2000. Backup also simplifies archiving and allows you to use the Windows 2000 Job Scheduler for automating backup jobs.

Tasks such as mounting and dismounting a tape or disk are done by Removable Storage. It tracks and controls backup cartridges, which are usually organized into pools, on storage devices and allows applications such as Backup to share robotic changers and cartridge libraries. After it is started, Removable Storage is transparent, so you only need access to it when you change cartridges, not when you perform a backup or restore operation.

Note

Backing up to files on random access media, such as hard or removable disks, is not managed by Removable Storage.

Because of the use of Removable Storage technology, the target media of Backup is not drive-oriented in Windows 2000 as it is in versions of Backup that are included in Windows NT. In the past, backup data was written to drives (for example, tape or disk drives).

In Windows 2000, Backup uses cartridges in media pools to store backed up data. Backup still writes backup data to tapes or files on disks; however, the media is managed by Removable Storage, which references media instead of drives. Backup recognizes each cartridge to which it gains access as either a member of an existing media pool or as unallocated media. The significance of this change can be seen when a user sets up a regular backup schedule.

In the past, users scheduled Backup to run on specified days, and they could use any cartridge for that days job. Removable Storage tracks the use of all cartridges, so it does not allow indiscriminate use of unrecognized cartridges in the applications it manages.

Each cartridge that is used by Backup must be added to Backups application media pool and it requires its own scheduled job to be automated. If you choose to backup your data to a different cartridge each night over the course of a week, you have to create seven scheduled jobs, or one job for each tape. This is because the Job Scheduler feature included with Backup requires that you specify a particular cartridge name in the scheduled job. (Each cartridge has a unique name recorded in the header of the data area.) If you place the Tuesday cartridge in the recording drive on Friday, the scheduled job fails because not all of the required criteria for completing the job were met.

You can avoid this potential problem in one of two ways. You can run the backup job manually the first time the cartridge is used and assign the cartridge a unique name (such as Monday) in the process. You can also use the Removable Storage console to assign a unique name to the cartridge and place that cartridge in Backups application media pool. After the cartridge has a unique name assigned to it, you can create a set of scheduled backup jobs, one for the name of each cartridge that is to be used. As long as the specified cartridge is used with the correct scheduled job, all scheduled backups can run normally.

Note

If you use a multicartridge library drive (such as a tape drive that contains a magazine of tapes) and set Backup to always draw cartridges from the free media pool, you only need to schedule one job. However, each previously used cartridge must be erased, which places it back into the free media pool, before it can be used again.