Patent ID: 8650372

Claim:
A method comprising: obtaining, by a processor, information regarding a future backup from one or more backup applications for a plurality of backup jobs, wherein the information corresponds to at least one of a backup device, a media pool used by a backup device, scratch media currently available in a backup device, scratch media currently available in a media pool, media type, compression rate, type of backup job, location of data being backed up, historical backup size, and future scheduled backup jobs; determining, by the processor, a projected number of media for a future execution of at least one of the backup jobs using the information regarding the future backup, said projected number of media being sufficient to ensure a future backup does not fail due to lack of loaded media, said determining also comprising dividing an average historical backup size of the backup job by an average capacity of a media type associated with the backup job; displaying the projected number of media to a user; and loading a sufficient quantity of media into a backup device or media pool to result in the projected number of media being loaded.