Using system backup tapes to find a single document is like ... Real Dumb,
Dude... because that's NOT what backup tapes are for!   What BOGUS
exercise!!

=)

But seriously folks =|

Your IT policy should state why (and how) backup tapes are generated and
that the purpose of them is to reinitialize systems and data in the event of
a crash, accidental loss or data, or a catastrophic failure ONLY.  They
aren't to be used to search for content, because nothing should exist on
them that doesn't exist on the primary system, hence the name BACKUP.
They're part of a business continuity and disaster recovery program.

Part of why I see this question and similar comments about this "exercise"
in a lot of trade journals and magazine articles is they come from the IT
perspective of not understanding the differences between the RM definition
of BACKUP and ARCHIVE... and in general, not understanding records
management practices.

This would be an ALMOST legitimate question if (from the IT perspective) it
was asking:

 "Trying to find a single file in an ARCHIVE volume is like..."  because
Archive volumes DO hold data that is at time different than the active
system.

Larry

-- 
Larry Medina
Danville, CA
RIM Professional since 1972

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