Autochanger overview

An autochanger (or just ``changer'') is a tape drive that automatically swaps tapes. A changer can handle anywhere from four to over one hundred tapes. A changer can also have more than one tape drive built into it. The box that houses the drive and tapes on the larger changers is often referred to as a ``jukebox'' because it is similar in function to a musical jukebox.

The advantages of a changer become obvious when you consider how they can automate your jobs.

For example, let's say that you are responsible for backing up a network that consists of 20 UNIX^® workstations. You've set up a SCO ARCserve/Open AutoPilot job which completely automates selecting your source, selecting your destination, and running the job at the same time each day. In addition, you've set up a tape rotation scheme that requires only six tapes.

Everything runs without intervention from you except swapping tapes. You have to remember to insert the correct tape in your tape drive each day. With a changer, as long as your changer handles enough tapes, you can load all your tapes at once and then not worry about them for up to a year, depending on how you've configured SCO ARCserve/Open's Auto Pilot.

Some of the advantages of using a changer with SCO ARCserve/Open are:

complete automation - especially for AutoPilot jobs. With a changer, you don't have to remember to insert the correct tape each day
more capacity - the larger changers can contain multiple tape drives and over a hundred tapes
more flexibility - you can group a series of tapes within a changer to a particular drive within the same changer