How File Backup to Tape Works

When Veeam Backup Free Edition executes a file to tape job (started manually or on schedule), it performs the following operations:

1. The file to tape job detects files that match the job criteria.
2. The files are queued for archiving. The following scenarios are used:

• If it is a first job run or a scheduled full backup, all selected files are queued for archiving.
• If it is an incremental backup run, Veeam Backup Free Edition addresses the Tape Catalog in the Veeam Backup Free Edition database to detect if any data has been modified since the latest backup. Detected changes are queued for archiving.

3. Veeam Backup Free Edition connects to the Data Movers and starts the data transfer process.
4. The source Data Mover retrieves data from the source servers and target Data Mover sends data to tape.
5. The tape job addresses the media pool that is set for this job as target. The media pool allots tapes for writing data according to the following configuration options:

• Tapes consumption
• Media sets
• Tape retention

6. While tape recording is performed, Veeam Backup service updates data in the Tape Catalog in Veeam Backup database. The Veeam Backup console displays refreshed information about files archived to tape and shows job statistics.