Is it safe to delete Catalogues files (u01)? 1

[OrangeGringo]

Hi Folks,
I have a folder (\Program Files\VERITAS\Backup Exec\NT\Catalogs) which obviously holds all of the catalogues for my backups, it holds allot of U01 files with names like {AF850908-C56E-4115-A07B-9DF80B224A2F}.U01. This folder is getting bigger and bigger! Is it safe to delete the older files in this directory? Some are dating back to early 2003, accessed and modified.
Thanks for any help,
OG

 

[Scanner]

It's safe to delete these. You will want to keep some things in mind, though (for the sake of convenience).

The catalogs should be groomed to match closely with the inventory rotation you keep.

For example, if you do daily backups and use enough media for a four week rotation, the catalog for the first tape should be kept for 28 days (a new one will be created on the 29th day when the job runs again).

There is an automated way to do this through the application. Go to Tools-Options-Catalogs and put in your grooming needs.

The PITA factor can be raised quite a bit if you delete off a catalog that is needed later. That's because although you can regenerate a catalog from an existing tape, it can take a while depending on how you do it.

If the text copy of the catalog is corrupted on the tape, you would need to manually generate the catalog by reading every file and attribute which takes a lot of time (especially in the case of multi-tape sets).

 

[OrangeGringo]

Thanks Scanner,
One other quick question if you have time. If I set the 'Remove unused catalogs after' option to x days will this clear my unused logs automatically now, or will I have to 'groom' the existing files manually?
Thanks again,
OG

 

[Scanner]

When the next catalog is created it should groom all of the existing catalogs as part of the process automatically.

 

[OrangeGringo]

Thanks Scanner, this has been a good help.
Cheers
OG