All basic settings can be found in this window:
 

Index Path
The tables of contents of tapes written by Z-TapeBackup are saved in the location specified by the "Index path" field.

Screensaver off
Disable screensaver during backup.

Z-TapeBackup OnTop
Keeps the Z-TapeBackup window on top of all others.

Use RAM for filelist
The temporary index for the dump is created in memory. This option can be selected if Z-TapeBackup is used only for copying archives created with Z-DBackup to tape. Note: If this option is selected, a   maximum of 384,000 files can be copied and Z-TapeBackup may use up to 512 MByte of memory, depending on the number of files to copy. This option does not support Muli-Spanning and the FastSeek option is disabled!

If this option is not selected, Z-TapeBackup can copy up to 8.000.000 files per backup - only depending on the capacity of the medium! 

Archive bit ignore
At any tape backup, the archive bit of files on the disc is cleared. This option is turned off this function. This option will disable this feature in principle. The archive attribute in traditional file systems of Unix / Linux (and on many NAS drives) is often incorrect or implemented. If run backup from a (relevant) nas you can / should enable this option.
 

Tape DAD Mode
DAD (Direct Access Device) activates direct access to the tape drive.

SPTI Mode
Enables or disables the SPTI (SCSI Pass Through Interface) mode of Z-TapeBackup.

Used Tape capacity

In the default setting, 96% of the native tape capacity is available for a backup. Z-TapeBackup uses 4% of the capacity to store file information and tape marks, and it also keeps some space in reserve for bad blocks (areas on the tape that can no longer be written). Here you can set what percentage of the tape capacity Z-TapeBackup should use for data.

On LTO tapes you need a reserve because the stated capacity is only an estimate. Part of the tape is used for management data, error correction and the file system. There are also manufacturing tolerances and sometimes damaged areas on the tape. If you plan the backup to use 100% of the tape, the backup may fail at the end or not all data will fit. The reserve makes sure that backups run reliably, even if a tape has a bit less usable space in practice than the value printed on the label.

Recommendation:

•LTO 1 to LTO 6: keep 96 percent
 

•LTO 7: at most 98 percent to keep about 100 GiB as reserve

•LTO 8: 99 percent is possible, the reserve stays above 100 GiB

•LTO 9: 99 percent is possible, the reserve stays clearly above 100 GiB

Important: If Bandspanning is enabled, the program internally subtracts another 2 percent from the value you set. In this case, the usable capacity is a bit lower than shown in the dialog, but the reserve becomes

Max Tape Files
 

This setting defines how many files or directories can be managed on a tape at most. Every file and every directory uses one extra management block (4 KB), which is subtracted from the total tape capacity.

By default, Z-TapeBackup backs up 2,000,000 files per tape. With this default of 2,000,000 files, about 7.6 GB of tape capacity is reserved just for management blocks. This space is no longer available for the actual user data.

On large tapes (for example LTO-7 with 6,000 GB), this loss is hardly noticeable. On smaller tapes or with very high values, the management overhead can become significant. That is why it makes sense to set this value only as high as your backup strategy really needs.

Language settings

The program checks your system language on first start. If run on a German system, the program will also be in German; otherwise, it will be in English. The language can be changed here.

Program

•Main window

•Set up medium

•Data selection

•Directory selection

•Backup

•1-click backup

•Multi-Spanning

•Task scheduling

•Restore

•Backup view

•Logfile

•Saving methods

•Commandline

•Context-sensitive help

•Online Updates
 

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Copyright © 2026 Andreas Baumann