Retrieving Product Files from an Archive

You can use the Archive menu to retrieve product files from tape and put them back on disk where they are available for display or, in the case of the RAW product, for subsequent product generation.

The Retrieve command takes product files from archive and stores them on the system disk. Retrieve requires that you first tag all files to be retrieved. Files can be tagged even while Retrieve or other operations are in progress.

  1. Because Retrieve relies heavily on the log, perform an inventory for IRIS tapes with incomplete logs.

    See Creating and Printing a Log.

    Retrieve works if an inventory is not done, but only those files that are listed in the tape log can be retrieved.
  2. Determine which tape or disk has the data that you want. The best way to do this is to maintain a book of printed logs. Because IRIS media can contain a wide variety of products, a simple label is not usually sufficient to describe what is on the medium.
  3. Load the medium into the drive and set the drive on line.
    Set the write protection on to avoid accidentally writing to the tape by yourself or another operator.
  4. Enter the Archive menu and choose Commands > Mount.

    Check the information in the log to make sure it is consistent with what you thought was on the medium.

  5. To tag files for retrieving, select the files that you want to tag by doing one of the following:
    • Left-click the mouse over an entry in the log to select it, or press CTRL+click to select more than one entry.
    • Click and drag the mouse to select a group of entries in the log, or press CTRL, then click and drag the mouse to select multiple groups of entries.
    • Use the Filter menu to produce a list of the files that you want to retrieve.
  6. Select Retrieve from one of the following menus:
    • If you selected the entries with the mouse, position the mouse cursor over the tape log and right-click the mouse.
    • If you selected the entries from the Filter menu, select Commands.

    If you change your mind, untag the file by selecting Cancel.

    When a product is selected for Retrieve, an r appears next to its file number.

    After a file is successfully retrieved, or if it is on disk already, a d is displayed next to the corresponding file number.

    Files that are already on disk cannot be tagged for Retrieve.
  7. Select Commands > Retrieve.

    IRIS positions the tape and copies the tagged files to the disk. A d appears next to a file after it is copied to disk.

    You can continue to tag or untag files even while Retrieve is operating.

    You may also leave the Archive menu, and the Retrieve process continues its job.

    For example, you can go to the Product Output menu and request output from some of the products that you have restored to disk.