Accessing Tiered Mediaflux Data

In short: Data you haven't accessed for a long time is moved from fast disk to tape. It is not deleted. Before working with older data, check its state in the Mediaflux Desktop client, and recall it if it has been tiered. If you try to open tiered data without recalling it first, you will get an error — that's expected, and this page shows exactly what those errors look like for each access method and how to fix them.

1. What's happening and why

Mediaflux automatically moves data that hasn't been accessed (read or opened) for a long time from fast disk onto tape. This is based on last-access time — not when the data was created or last modified — so anything you use regularly stays on fast storage.

A few things worth knowing:

• Your data is never deleted by tiering. It is still yours and still retrievable; it just lives on tape instead of disk.

• Recall is not automatic. Opening a tiered file does not bring it back on its own. You must recall it deliberately through the Mediaflux Desktop client.

• The goal is to tier data untouched for 2+ years. We're rolling this out gradually, starting with the oldest data. Data that hasn't been touched in this long is rarely needed urgently, so a small, deliberate recall step is a reasonable trade-off.

2. How to check whether a file is on disk or tape

A file's state is shown as its Content Status:

2.1 Mediaflux Desktop (Asset Finder) — check and recall here

Select a file in the Asset Finder. The metadata panel on the right shows the Content section — the Status field tells you whether the file is ONLINE or OFFLINE.

Online file (on disk):

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Offline file (on tape):

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2.2 Mediaflux Explorer — check only

Mediaflux Explorer also exposes the file state. Select a file and look at the Content → Status field in the right-hand details panel.

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Note: Explorer can show you the state, but recall can only be done through the Desktop client (Section 3). Desktop is the simplest place to both check and recall in one go.

2.3 SMB / mapped drives — no indication at all

Over SMB (Finder on macOS, mapped drives on Windows), offline files look identical to online files — same name, same size, no icon or badge. There is no way to tell from the file browser alone. If a file errors when you open or copy it, check its status in Mediaflux Desktop.

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3. How to recall data (Mediaflux Desktop only)

Recall is done at the collection (folder) level in Mediaflux Desktop. It restores all offline files within the selected collection.

Step 1 — Request the restoration.
In the Asset Finder, right-click the folder containing your offline data and choose “Request offline content restoration” from the context menu.

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Step 2 — Confirm the request.
A dialog explains what will happen. Click “Request offline content restoration” to submit.

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Step 3 — Wait for the email notification.
Mediaflux confirms your request has been submitted. You will receive an email notification once the restoration is complete and the files are back online. (If the collection contained no offline files, no email is sent.)

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How long does it take? Recall time depends on the volume of data and current tape activity. Plan ahead if you know you'll need older data — submit the recall before you need to work with it.

4. Error reference — what you'll see if a file is still on tape

If you skip the check-and-recall step and try to access offline data directly, you'll hit an error. This is expected and your data is not lost or corrupted. The error just means the file is on tape. Below is what each access method shows.

4.1 SMB — macOS (Finder / applications / Terminal)

Copying (drag and drop in Finder):

The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in “1gb2.file” can't be read or written. (Error code -36)

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Opening directly in an application (e.g. PowerPoint):

Sorry, PowerPoint can't read /Volumes/…/Mediaflux-20170220-JW.pptx.

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Copying in Terminal (cp):

cp: 1gb2.file: Input/output error

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4.2 SMB — Windows (Explorer / applications)

Copying in File Explorer:

Error 0x800710FE: This file is currently not available for use on this computer.

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Opening directly in an application (e.g. PowerPoint):

Sorry, we couldn't open 'X:\tape data\dataset01\office_test\Mediaflux-20170220-JW.pptx'.

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4.3 SFTP (e.g. FileZilla)

Downloading an offline file:

Could not open remote file: Received error SSH_FX_FAILURE with description 'EOFFLINE'
File transfer failed

The EOFFLINE description is the giveaway — the file is on tape.

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Downloading a folder containing a mix of online and offline files:
Online files transfer successfully; offline files appear under the Failed transfers tab with the reason “Could not start transfer”.

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4.4 Rsync

Rsync transfers all online files and reports the offline ones as failures at the end:

rsync error: some files/attrs were not transferred (see previous errors) (code 23)

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4.5 Mediaflux Explorer

Explorer shows the file's OFFLINE status (Section 2.2), but attempting to download offline content produces an error:

An error has occurred — Context: Transferring content
call to service 'asset.get' failed: Failed to retrieve content copy for asset (id) …

The transfer is shown as failed in the transfer panel at the bottom.

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4.6 Unimelb MF Client (unimelbmfdownload)

The download completes for online files, and the summary reports the offline ones as failed assets:

Downloaded assets: 262 files
Failed assets: 2 files

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The log identifies exactly which files were offline:

SEVERE Asset 2918183818: '/projects/…/Mediaflux-20170220-JW.pptx' content is offline.

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4.7 NFS

[TODO: capture and add the NFS error behaviour — screenshots not yet available.]

5. Quick reference

In every case the fix is the same: check the status in Mediaflux Desktop (Section 2), request offline content restoration (Section 3), wait for the confirmation email, then access your data normally.

Don't panic — your data is safe. If you're still stuck after recalling, contact the RCS support team.