I'm newly entering the area of large-scale backup operations, and I have an option to add a barcode reader to our tape library system that we will be ordering (Qualstar TLS-5433 SAIT). I'm wondering how important it is to have a barcode reader on the tape library? The way I understand it (shaky, at best) is that Amanda writes a label to the front of each tape, and that if you have barcodes on your tapes, it maintains a mapping table between the two. Seems like an extra step to me, so the barcodes must have some benefit from a human-convenience point of view, as opposed to Amanda itself. Frankly, I'd rather not spend the money as long as I don't regret it later. Thoughts?
Thanks, Fran
