How to Restore Sun Solaris Backup from LTO Tapes?

At times, users cannot access or extract data backups from LTO tapes created with legacy versions of Sun Solaris on newer operating systems (Oracle Solaris 11 or Windows 10/11). This happens for varied reasons. An easy way to extract data from LTO tape is by using a specialized tape data recovery software. This article discusses the stepwise process to restore data from LTO tape backed up using Sun Solaris.

What is Sun Solaris?

Sun Solaris (now Oracle Solaris) is a UNIX-based operating system. It is mainly used for its scalability, robust architecture, and virtualization capabilities. It is used in several enterprise environments, like cloud computing, data centers, banking, telecommunications, etc. It is used with Oracle’s SPARC Enterprise M8000 and M9000 and SPARC T4 servers for hosting and consolidating large mission-critical database systems.

How Sun Solaris Stores Data on Tapes?

Sun Solaris uses tar (tape archive) or ufsdump to create data archives on magnetic tapes. As it is a UNIX-based OS, users can also use other backup utilities – cpio and pax – to copy files on LTO tapes.

Files are written sequentially on the tapes, with a header at the beginning of each file describing the file. The header acts as a metadata record for the subsequent files and contains information, like File Path and Name (name), File Mode (mode), Owner User ID (uid), and more. At the end of the archive file are the two 512-byte blocks containing null values or binary zeros. They act as the end-of-the-file marker. Here is a diagrammatic representation of the structure of tar.

How to Manage Data on LTO Tape in Sun Solaris?

You can use tar, pax, dd, or cpio commands via Terminal to manage LTO tape data in Sun Solaris. With these commands, you can:

• Copy files/group of files or directories between file systems using cpio
• Copy files to a tape using tar
• List all the files on a tape using tar
• Retrieve files from a tape using tar
• Retrieve specific files from a tape using cpio
• Copy/extract data from remote tape devices using tar and dd

Why Sun Solaris LTO Tape Backup becomes Inaccessible?

Here are some reasons for inaccessible Sun Solaris tape backup:

• Incompatible tape data parser version
• Tape drive incompatible with the tape cartridge
• Incorrect syntax, parameters, or device path used with the command to extract data from the tape cartridge
• File system incompatibility (old Sun Solaris backups may not work on ZFS-based Solaris systems)
• Missing catalog files on the tape

How to Extract Data from LTO Tape backed up using Solaris OS?

You can use Stellar Data Recovery for Tape Toolkit – a dedicated LTO tape data recovery software that is capable of recovering data from inaccessible tape cartridges. You can use this software to recover all kinds of data archived on an LTO tape, like user files, documents, presentations, folders, videos, photos, audio files, and more. The software can also recover large database files of SQL/MySQL, MS Exchange, Oracle, and more, with 100% accuracy.

You can use this software to recover data from magnetic tapes of various generations – from LTO-1 to LTO-9. Moreover, it supports various tape data parsers (backup software), like HPE Data Protector, Veritas (.BKF and compressed .BKF), Symantec, Symantec Compressed Backup, Tivoli Storage Manager (B/A Client), and more. You can also use this software to recover data archives from magnetic tapes with missing or deleted catalog files.

Highlights of Stellar Data Recovery for Tape Toolkit:

• Pay-per-use subscription plan; 1 tape = 1 license
• Accurately recovers backups and archives data from LTO tapes
• Creates an image dump (.tape) of the tape backup and scans it for recovering files
• Helps retrieve individual files/folders from a dump image (.tape)
• Retrieves all types of data – documents, images, videos, database files (SQL/MySQL), mailbox files (MBOX, OST, PST), etc.
• Supports all the generations of Ultrium tape - from LTO-1 to LTO-9
• Compatible with a wide range of tape parsers, including Sun Solaris, PAX (CentOS and FreeBSD), TAR, CPIO, ArGest (BRU), Arcserve, Symantec and Symantec Compressed Backup.
• Supports LTO tapes of prominent brands – Overland-Tandberg, Fujitsu, IBM, Spectra Logic, HPE, Quantum, Dell EMC, and more

Now, let’s see how to restore data from LTO tape backups created with Solaris using this software.

• Go to Stellar Data Recovery for Tape's webpage. Click on Buy Now.

• Select the Toolkit option and use the dropdown list against the 'Number of Tape Supported' to select the number of tapes (licenses) you want to recover data from. Again, click on Buy Now.
• After making your purchase, install it on a Windows PC/Server.
• Using an SAS/HBA card, Thunderbolt, USB, or Ethernet, connect the tape drive to the system.
• Now check Device Manager (press WIN+X and then press M to open it). It should appear under ‘Tape drives.’
• After this, insert the tape cartridge containing the Sun Solaris backup archive into the tape drive.
• Now, launch Stellar Data Recovery for Tape Toolkit installed on your device.
• The Select Option screen will appear. Click on Create Image and then click on Next.

• The Select Destination Path screen will appear. Click on Browse to choose the path where you wish to save the tape drive image (.tape).
• Then, select ‘Auto’ from the dropdown in the Block Size field. This will select the pre-defined block size and ensure faster processing and image creation.
• Click on Create. The software will begin creating the tape drive image. Wait for it to complete.

• After the image is successfully created, it will show the Image Created screen.
• Click on Scan to begin scanning the image.
• After finishing the scan, the software will display all the recoverable files. Select a file to preview it.
• Select the files you want to save and click on Save in the ribbon.
• The Save dialog box will appear. Choose either the Default Path (selected by the software) or the User Defined Path to save the data.
• After selecting the destination path, click on Save. The software will start saving the data at the selected location.
• After the software saves the recovered data, it will show the Process Complete dialog box. Click on OK to complete the process.

• The recovered Sun Solaris data backup will be saved at the selected destination.

Bottom Line

If you want to restore LTO tape data backups created with Sun Solaris, the best way is to use Stellar Data Recovery for Tape Toolkit. It is a powerful LTO tape data recovery software that quickly scans and recovers data backups stored on magnetic tape cartridges with 100% accuracy. It can recover data from tapes of all generations (LTO-1 to LTO-9). It supports magnetic tapes of popular brands, such as Quantum, HPE, IBM, Oracle, etc.