Viewing media in storage devices

If you select a device or select Slots in the Devices view, information for the media contained in the device or slot appears in the results pane. This information is also displayed when you click Media on the navigation bar, and then click All Media.

You can run operations on the media by selecting a media, and then selecting a task in the task pane, such as Catalog Media or Restore Data.

Table: Media information in the Devices view

Item

Description

Slot Number

Number of the slot. This field only appears if Slots has been selected.

Bar Code

Label obtained from a bar code reader. This field only appears if Slots has been selected. Bar code information only appears if the robotic library has a bar code reader and a bar code label is on the media.

Media Label

Media label that was assigned automatically by Backup Exec, or that was assigned or changed by the administrator, or that was a pre-assigned bar code label.

You can edit the media label, which is limited to 32 characters. Editing the label changes the name of the media in the display, but does not write the new label to the media until an overwrite operation occurs. When you edit a media label, try to make it a concise identifier that will remain constant even when the media is reused. You should write this media label on a label fixed to the outside of the physical media.

Duplicate labels can be automatically generated. For example, reinstalling Backup Exec or bringing media from another Backup Exec installation could cause duplication in labels. Duplicate labels are allowed, but not recommended.

Note:

If a bar code is available, and a bar code-equipped device is used, then the media label automatically defaults to that bar code.

Media Description

By default, displays the original media label if the media is imported media. If the media description has been edited, the new description appears. Otherwise, this field is blank.

Allocated Date

Date and time when the media was added to a media set as a result of an overwrite operation.

Media Set

Name of the media set this media belongs to.

Media Location

Name of the device or vault where this media is located.

Overwrite Protected Until

Date and time after which the media can be overwritten.

Appendable Until

Date and time after which the media can no longer be appended to.

Used Capacity

The amount of raw capacity on the media that has been used. Used Capacity is calculated by subtracting Available Capacity from Total Capacity.

Used Capacity may or may not equal Bytes Written.

Compression Ratio

The ratio of Bytes Written to Used Capacity. Compression ratio will show the overall effect that data compression and media flaws are having on the amount of data that is being stored on the media.

More Information

About the Library Expansion Option

About devices in the SAN Shared Storage Option