Is the retention period how long it will hold an index of where and when the backup was created? So if there is data on a tape it won't know where it is if the backup retention time is set to this?

Hi

Could you please explain exactly what you are asking here..bit confusing?

If you are asking what I think you are asking then the retention period is the period of time that a backup will be able to be browsed for restore...once the retention time has expired enteries in the index are then removed and the blocks on the backup media are marked as being available to be overwritten.

It is still possible to restore data from expired backups as long as the blocks on the media haven't been overwritten by more data.

Sorry about the confusion. That's exactly what I was referring to. Would I just need to import the tape and then browse the data on it to restore?

do you mean when the retention period has expired?

Yes.

There is a registry setting that allows for browsing of aged data (retention has expired)
Otherwise you will not see it from the gui.
You can see the data on a tape from Media explorer though.

On the CommServe please navigate to the “commserve” key within the registry.  The typical path is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\CommVault Systems\Galaxy\Platform nformation\ControlSet001(*servername*)\CommServe.  Under the commserve key, please create a new DWORD value “dIncludeAgedData” and set the value to 1 decimal.

This applies to 5.9, not sure if it exists already in 6.1

I'd personaly use Media Explorer, adding registry keys is good until upgrade time as I've found out through painful experience