You can organize and store archives in several ways.
Considerations for selecting a disk storage strategy
If you are using multiple archive process templates that write archives to multiple media pools, you must create a corresponding purge process template. The purge process template should specify the same pools or disks that are used in the archive process templates. This ensures that, before purging a job or job files, the Archiver system verifies that archives were successfully written to all pools or disks. If you don't use a purge process template that specifies multiple pools or disk volumes, the Archiver system checks only that each file has been archived to one media pool or disk volume, and you may accidentally purge a job before it has been successfully archived to multiple pools or disk volumes.
When you create an archive, always ensure that your archiving strategy includes redundancy and failover recovery. For example, one strategy is to create two archive process templates, and use a different media pool or disk for each. This creates a second copy of the archive, which is similar to having a backup of important information on your computer's hard disk. If an archive disk is damaged, having a second copy of the archive enables you to retrieve jobs that were stored in the archive.
Tip: If you have Prinergy Rules-Based Automation (RBA), consider setting up the Easy Archive rule to automate the archiving process. For information, see the RBA User Guide.
Disk volume storage strategy examples
Storage strategy | Disk volumes | Process templates | Maintenance |
|---|---|---|---|
Disk volume | Two appropriate disk volumes, such as ArchiveDisk1 and ArchiveDisk2 | Create one archive and purge process template that targets both disk volumes. | Back up each archive disk volume regularly. Monitor the free space on each archive disk volume regularly. |
Note: Kodak recommends archiving to two disk volumes, even when using RAID-based volumes. The risk of unrecoverable data decreases as you move from single disk vs. RAID; however, even with RAID, there is still a chance of unrecoverable data, so a second RAID volume is recommended for Archive to Disk. The use of removable external hard drives (for example—USB drives) for Archive to Disk is not recommended and not supported. The external disks are not uniquely identifiable to Prinergy (for example—plugging in Disk1 will show to Prinergy and Windows as K:, and plugging in Disk2 will also show as K:). Use of external drives for archiving requires the operator to track which external drive contains which jobs, and then plug in the appropriate drive when needing to retrieve a job. This is likely overly complex for many users, and is therefore not recommended or supported.