This command-line tool enables you to verify that the format of a tape is compliant with the Microsoft Tape Format (MTF) specification. With it, you can verify any data written by NtBackUp, HSM, or any application that uses MTF. By verifying the data, you can make sure that the data is accessible to any MTF compliant application. MtfCheck can restore any file on any MTF-compliant tape without using Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM), NtBackUp (a Windows 2000 tool), or the application that wrote the tape. It can also erase a tape by zeroing all its data.
If data on an MTF tape are partially corrupted, MtfCheck can provide useful information on the corruption. Even if HSM or NtBackUp cannot access an MTF tape because of partial corruption, MtfCheck can still access it and restore the valid part of the data or uncorrupted files in a set.
Before MtfCheck, the standard way of verifying tape data was to run NtBackUp on the tape. But NtBackUp does not report inconsistencies on the tape; rather, it only indicates whether or not it can access the tape data. Moreover, it is not always feasible to restore the whole tape to verify data.
Normal tape erase procedures simply put a tape header followed by an END_OF_DATA mark, possibly keeping some partially valid data intact beyond the END_OF_DATA mark. For security reason, this might be unacceptable in certain cases. With MtfCheck, a user can over-write the tape with zeros and add a label to it.
In an automated test environment, testers can run an MTF application to write MTF data on a medium, run MtfCheck to create a report file in a specified directory, and use the summary in the report file along with the data from other test tools to ensure that the application wrote valid data.
System administrators can use this tool to verify routine backup data and to make sure they can rely on backup devices and procedures.
MtfCheck operates only on MTF data.
MtfCheck Topics
File Required