Erasing media

You can erase media by using either Quick erase or Long erase. Not all devices support a long erase; those that do not can only perform a quick erase.

Quick erase writes an indicator at the beginning of the media that makes the data contained on the media inaccessible. For most uses, a Quick erase is sufficient.

Long erase instructs the drive to physically erase the entire media. If you have sensitive information on the media and you want to dispose of it, use Long erase. Running Long erase on media can take several minutes to several hours to complete (depending on the drive and the media capacity).

Quick and Long erase do not change the media label. To change a media label, use Label Media or Rename prior to the Erase operation.

To erase media

  1. On the navigation bar, click Devices.

  2. Expand the server icon, click Stand-alone Drives, or if the device resides in a robotic library, click Robotic Libraries.

  3. Select the drive or slot containing the media you want to erase.

  4. Under Media Tasks in the task pane, select either Erase media, quick or Erase media, long.

    If the drive does not support a long erase, Erase media, long will not be available.

    The following warning is displayed:

    "This operation will be performed on the current media in the drive or slot. If the media has been changed since the last inventory operation was performed, the media label in the next dialog may not match the media in the drive or slot selected."

  5. Click OK to continue.

    The media displayed was read during the last inventory operation; the display does not change until another inventory operation occurs. Therefore, if you change media in the slot or drive but did not run Inventory, the media label displayed may not match the actual media in the slot or drive.

  6. When prompted, click Yes to erase the media.

  7. Select the appropriate options as follows:

    Job name

    Type a name for the job or accept the default name.

    Job priority

    Select the priority for the job.

    Available options are as follows:

    • Lowest

    • Low

    • Medium

    • High

    • Highest

  8. If you want a person or group to be notified when the job completes, on the Properties pane, under Settings, click Notification and select the options you want.

    See Setting up notification for alerts.

  9. If you want to run the job now, click Run Now. Otherwise, on the Properties pane, under Frequency, click Schedule to set the scheduling options you want to use.

    See Scheduling jobs.

    You can monitor the Erase operation through the Job Monitor.

    You cannot cancel an Erase operation after it has started; however, you can use Cancel to stop a queued erase operation.