Yes, TSM keeps track of where files are on media, but that info is not exposed to customers. In any case, you should not consider attempting physical retrieval of TSM-stored data without TSM due to factors such as any specialized methods by which TSM may have stored the data (which are proprietary and publicly undefined, including Aggregation) and complications such as files spanning volumes.
The most straightforward course of action is to proceed as you have been: get a list of files by volume and then perform Retrieve in that order. Remember that the important thing here is the veracity of the retrieved data, with speed being secondary. More quickly obtaining data which is questionable is not a worthy goal. Richard Sims On Oct 14, 2005, at 6:22 PM, Justin Derrick wrote:
Hi TSMers... I'm working on a project to extract archived data from almost 2000 optical platters. The data needs to come out of TSM temporarily, be reprocessed, and eventually, loaded back into TSM. The problem is, I want to do this in the most efficient way possible, and I'm having a little trouble. At this point in time, I'm getting the contents of individual volumes with a select statement, similar to a 'query content'. The only catch is, I want to read all the files on one side of the platter before switching it over to prevent the library from flopping platters back and forth, which eats into the aggregate transfer speed. Are their 'secret' tables or columns inside TSM that can tell me what the exact location of a file on a platter is? How does TSM know when it's mounting a platter if it needs to be flipped over for a retrieval? Any assistance, information, guidance, etc. will be greatly appreciated. Have a great weekend! -JD.
