Re: Can LTO ULTRIUM5 tapes be initialized to *ULTRIUM4 on an 8202-E4C POWER7?

I'd be a little cautious about discarding tapes as soon as they start
reporting errors. We started having a big increase in tapes reporting
errors. One possible conclusion was that the whole batch of tapes was
getting old. We explored different alternatives. Our 3576 has 6 tape
drives. Three of which are used by TSM in our Linux lpar. The other
three are used by various lpars of i via a switch and the same lpar may
get a different drive. This is configured as a library and not a drive.
It took some serious looking but we determined that the tapes being
reported in error came from one particular drive. We replaced that drive.
Initialized those tapes with clear yes and haven't had a problem with
them since.

We will be upgrading from LTO3 to LTO4 early next year. Replacing all
tapes also.


Rob Berendt