Which of the following can the administrator do to verify that a tape backup can be recovered in its entirety?

Reading only the first 512 bytes verifies the tape label or header at most, providing no assurance that any of the actual backup data is intact or recoverable.

A full restore exercises the entire backup set - reading every block from the tape, validating checksums or error-correction data, and reconstructing all files through the backup software - making it the definitive test of complete recoverability. Partial checks leave large portions of the tape unverified and may miss corruption in unread segments. This practice is a core component of backup validation in disaster recovery planning.

Reading the last 512 bytes checks the tape trailer but cannot confirm the integrity of all data written between the beginning and end of the backup stream.

Restoring a single random file confirms that isolated file recovery works but leaves the vast majority of the backup unverified and does not confirm full recoverability.