Erasing WORM Tapes?

[KevinWaberski]

Hey there,

actually I have some WORM Tapes which are - just because of a wring tape barcode - WORM Tapes.
I removed them from the catalog (put them offline, removed them) - but if I put a new barcode (non-WORM Code) on them - they are still recognized by veeam as WIORM Tapes - and I cannot erase them or re-use them.

And yes - I know what WORM stads for - but it was a mistake to label them as Worm-Media.

Also I tried to remove them by using Powershell (Erase-VBRTapeMedium -Medium XXXXXXX).
But Veeam recognizes the WORM state and is not able to remove them.

I am running VEAAM 9.5.4.2866 and I am really a bit clueless....

[soncscy]

Hey Kevin,

I suppose Veeam must track the tape info in the database somehow. If you mislabeled your tapes as WORM, probably you need to erase them with the vendor tools first, then re-import them.

Try that and see if it works. Veeam is going to likely have some association with that barcode + the immutable nature of the tape (this is me guessing, ofc)

[JPMS]

Tape backup solutions 'format' a new tape, creating a partition with a label. This is what Veeam uses to identify the tape.

Erasing the tape through Veeam or the tape manufacturers utility software won't change this. However, the manufacturers utility software may have a function to remove the partitions. This will return the tape to 'new' and Veeam will see it as a new, unpartitioned tape with no identity. I can't comment on other manufacturers but Quantum's xTalk utility has a command to 'Delete Partitions'. This will achieve what you want.

[RobTurk]

Hi Kevin,

The WORM property isn't in the barcode, it's a non-changable parameter stored inside the memory chip that is present in each LTO cartridge. Can you check on the cartridge itself if it carries any indication on it that indicates it's a WORM tape?
Depending on the LTO generation and vendor, the color(s) of the shell may indicate what type of tape you have. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_Tape-Open

Another reason for not being able to write to an LTO tape is if the cartridge is more than one generation behind the drive you are using. For instance, if you have an LTO-6 drive it will accept LTO-4,-5 and -6 cartridges, but can not write on LTO-4.