How to verify tape backup content and integrity

[zoltank]

People need to stop equating read-after-write to tape verify. They are NOT equivalent and they do NOT protect against the same thing.

Read-after-write only verifies the data that was sent to the drive is what was written to the tape. It does NOT protect against bad data being sent to the tape, which is what tape verify does.

Tape verify computes a checksum for the data on the source while it's being read, then writes the checksum to the tape. It then recomputes the checksum from the data on the tape and compares it to the original checksum. This makes sure the data on the source is what was actually sent and written to the tape. So let's stop perpetuating the myth that read-after-write is a replacement for tape verify, when it's not and never will be.

When the integrity of a company's DR is in question, not running tape verify is irresponsible.

We've been using LTO for well over a decade now, and we've had it fail verify a couple times. Yes it's rare, but when your DR is at stake, rare is still too often.

[digicube]

Is LTO6 considered a modern tape drive? How about LTO4? LTO2?

[Dima P.]

Robert,

Veeam B&R supports LTO3 and all generations above. LTO6 is still used, but I have not heard about LTO4 for a very long time. Hope that helps, cheers!

[Dima P.]

Hi guys!

Tape verification is now possible with latest Veeam B&R v11, here a very short description how to use it Verifying Tapes. Happy testing and do not forget to share your feedback with us. Cheers!

[dweide]

The new function simply works, thanks for adding this requested fearture to V11!

[Dima P.]

Thank you for the heads up, glad you like new functionality and will share your feedback with the team. Cheers!

[DFEX]

Dear Dima,

thanks for the info! Cool.
Is it possible to automatically verify the Tape after the BackupJob and before the TapeEject?

[jim7jim]

I'm also looking for a method to automate a tape verification job. Seems like as an option on the tape job might be good.

[Dima P.]

Thank you for the feedback folks,

For now the only way to automate verification is via PowerShell, but I'll note these posts as a feature requests. Thank you!