The Backup Exec test run option determines if a scheduled backup will complete successfully. When you run a test job, you can monitor the job just as you would a normal backup job, but no data is backed up. During the test run, the tape capacity, credentials, and media are checked. If there is an error, the job will continue to run and the error will appear in the job log. Notification can also be sent to a designated recipient.
Test run jobs that are targeted to All Drives will fail the test if any of the devices in the All Drives drive pool cannot handle the job. For example, if one of the devices does not have any media.
A test run job checks media capacity available for the selected job. However, you can check if there is enough available media for multiple test run jobs in the Test Run Results report.
Before you create a test run job, Symantec recommends that you run backup jobs to your devices first. Backup Exec does not recognize the capacity of a backup device until an actual backup job is targeted to the device. If you create a test run job before any other jobs, Backup Exec cannot check that the device has sufficient capacity to perform the backup job. After at least one backup job has been targeted to a device, Backup Exec can determine the capacity.