Tape Cataloging - Missing Data

[bnieman]

I have a question regarding Veeam’s cataloging process for tapes new to a Veeam server. I have a file server that I backup directly to tape, which seems to be working great. The issue I am running into is the restoration process. I send tapes offsite for either a month or year and since it’s a file server there are large amounts of file changes. By design, Veeam attempts to restore all files that were once in a particular folder that can be restored. It was recommended to me to spin up a new instance of Veeam with a new database so the software has no recollection of past files in its database. This sounds like a great way to solve my issue for restoring folders from my file to tape backup job. I’m running into an issue now with data missing from the tapes when I attempt to restore on the new server. The backup job spans over two LT07 tapes. This isn’t my only backup job that I run per week, there are 5 other jobs that run, which use a couple more tapes. When I catalog the tapes from my file server, I seem to be missing a large amount of folders so I’m not able to restore those file from those folders. On the backup Veeam server, I’m able to restore files from those missing folders from the same tape. So I do know the data is on the tapes. Do I need to catalog all the tapes from my weekly backups to see the data on the file server tapes? Or is there a particular cataloging process that I should be following? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I can open up a support case if they would be better suited to answer this. Thank you.

[Dima P.]

Hi Bryan,

Thanks for sharing your issue!

By design, Veeam attempts to restore all files that were once in a particular folder that can be restored.

Unfortunately, that’s true. Did you know that you can use File catalogue in VBR console to restore individual files instead of restoring the whole folder?

Do I need to catalog all the tapes from my weekly backups to see the data on the file server tapes?

Looks like you are right and full catalogue of tape media is required. To be honest, I’d better check with support team. I assume you should see all files on a tape, even if its being loaded to a brand new VBR server.

[bnieman]

Thank you for responding!

Yes, I know that you can restore a single file from a tape, but I'm more interested in restoring folders in case more files are needed.

I'm going to send this over to support to see what they have to say.