Managing Projects and Media > Archiving > Opening an Archive >

# Opening Multiple Tape Archives

When you are creating large archives, you may want to use multiple tapes to store one archive. By splitting the contents of one archive onto separate tapes, you can keep similar types of material together in the same archive.

You can open material on any tape in a multiple tape archive but you will always need the last tape in the multiple tape archive sequence. The last tape contains necessary header information for locating the material you want to restore.

TipKeep tapes organized and labeled so that you can easily keep track of all the tapes in the same archive.

To open material from a multiple tape device or VTR archive:

1. Insert the last tape in the tape device or VTR.
2. Click Open.

   Smoke reads the header information to ensure that the tape is actually the last tape in the sequence. If the incorrect tape is placed in the tape device or VTR, a corresponding error message appears.

3. Follow the instruction and then click Continue to proceed.
   TipClick Abort Loading at any time during this procedure to abort the restore procedure.
4. Select the backup set that you want to open.
5. If the material that you want to open is not on the last tape in the sequence, you are prompted to place the correct tape in the tape device or VTR.
6. Place the correct tape in the VTR or tape device and click Continue.
7. Click Close when you have finished restoring from the multiple tape sequence.