Long Preparation During Tape Recovery

Product version: 11.1

Last modified: 29 September 2025

Question

When recovering backup objects from tape, why does the Preparing data phase sometimes take long time (up to 1–2 hours) before data transfer begins?

Answer

The delay happens because the Transporter must rewind the tape and read metadata sequentially to locate the correct Recovery Point. The process is repeated for each Recovery Point if multiple are required. Preparation time mainly depends on the number of Recovery Points stored on the tape and the tape capacity. Factors such as Recovery Point size, LTO generation, or Transporter hardware have little effect. This behavior applies to all tape configurations.