Why restore 5,000 tapes when only 100 are relevant? Cataloging helps identify the most critical data:

The Oliver Group provides catalog services for multiple backup software formats. The catalog services are a desirable option when there is little known about a collection of media. High level catalogs provide information that assists clients in making educated decisions on how to proceed forward and selectively restore only the media that falls within the scope of a particular litigation. This can lead to significant cost and time savings in both restoration and downstream services involved in the ESI lifecycle (processing, review, production, etc.). Information provided varies by backup software, though generally the information includes:

Media ID/Barcode
Backup Set #, Date & Time
Type (Full/Differential/Incremental)
Server Name
Drive/Database Backed Up
Operating System

An example of a catalog summary report is provided below, and highlights the particular details that can be used as guidance for further decision-making.

TOG works with our clients to facilitate the analysis of the catalog summary report. Typically after reviewing this report, clients select the tapes and relevant servers they require for restoration. However, after detailed scoping, it may be determined that this information is not comprehensive enough. In that case, a deeper level of information can be provided for all or select media, which includes a file level listing including path information for file server data or, TOG can utilize the information contained within the backup software database to identify home directories for custodians of interest, find locations of NSF files, etc.