Deleting old tape backups from VBR software

[Max93]

Hello everyone,

We have some old tape backups in the VBR software under “Backups”.

We would like to delete them (or at least remove them from the view) but I can't find an option to do this.

Can you help me further? That would be great, thank you very much!

[david.domask]

Hi Max93,

Retention for tape backups is based on the tape retention period specified on the media pool: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... ml?ver=120

Once the tape is eligible to be overwritten or you mark it as free/erase it manually, the backups will no longer show. So if you no longer need the data on that tape, you can simply erase it or mark it as free.

[Max93]

Hello David Domask,

I understand, it worked perfectly. Thank you!

However, what happens if I accidentally mark the tapes as "Free" when they are not in the drive? Is it still possible to recover the data from the tapes in an emergency, or will they be immediately overwritten once inserted into the drive?

[david.domask]

Hi Max,

Glad I was able to help point you in the right direction

For your question, sure it's a good question.

"Mark as Free" simply tells Veeam to "forget" about the backups on the tape, but the tape itself is not touched. You can simply right-click any such tape and catalog the required tape(s). Once the Cataloging completes, the backups will be visible in the console once more and you can perform usual operations with those tapes + backups. (e.g., restores, tape copy, tape verification, etc)

[Max93]

That's very good to know! Thank you so much!
I was seriously worried that our long-term backups could be deleted with just two clicks

Thanks again for your help!

[david.domask]

You are very welcome! Glad I could calm that worry, as absolutely understandable thing to worry on. Keep in mind you can also use the hardware write-protection switch on the tapes and/or the built-in software tape protection (right-click on any tape) should you want an additional "safety catches."