Patent ID: 8645328

Claim:
An appliance for archive verification, comprising: a network interface operable to interface with a network and receive data from the network; a processor coupled to the network interface; and a computer readable media storing computer instructions executable by the processor to: store a verification policy specifying archive verification parameters, wherein at least one archive verification parameter specifies an interval of time between verifying a media in a media library; periodically determine how much time has elapsed since a specified media in the media library has been verified; compare the elapsed time to the interval of time specified by the verification policy; determine whether the elapsed time is equal to or greater than the interval of time specified by the verification policy; load the specified media into a drive of the media library based on a determination that the elapsed time is equal to or greater than the interval of time specified by the verification policy; send a first set of one or more commands to the drive to instruct the drive to read the specified media in accordance with the one or more commands; send a second set of one or more commands to the drive to collect error data logged by the drive when reading the specified media, the error data comprising an indication of read errors logged by the drive; receive the error data from the drive and associate the error data with the specified media; and apply one or more rules specified in the verification policy to the error data to determine readability of data previously backed up on the specified media, wherein applying the one or more rules specified in the verification policy to the error data to determine the readability of the specified media comprises comparing a number of read errors to a threshold specified in the verification policy.