8MM tape clarification

One thing I did not explain in my question yesterday was this backup is of
the main BPCS library BPCSF.  It is "ONLY" to be used if there is a problem
detected which would then get loaded onto the Test/Dev machine.  This way
the problem could be diagnosed, a fix determined,  and I am not messing
around in my "live" data.  

I also do a SAVCHGOBJ every night to a 3570 tape library and on Saturday
night I do SAVLIB of all user libraries.  The 8mm is just a save of this one
library just in case something goes wrong.  We are still new to BPCS and are
trying to give ourselves a way to correct and diagnose things that go bump
in the night.  Obviously, the library is constantly changing in size so the
number of saves per tape I can get is not cast in concrete.

What I really should do is pull that backup out of my "nightly" backup so it
doesn't affect my system coming back on line after the backup is done if the
tape gets full.  Just run it through the job scheduler as a separate job to
run at the same time as my nightly backup.

I was looking for a way to determine the maximum usage of a tape.  Getting
rolled out at 2:00 AM to change a tape should make me realize that tapes are
"cheap", this is not a life and death type of backup(until I really need
it), and sleeping is preferred at 2:00 AM over getting out in the cold and
snow to drive to work to change a tape.

Just trying to be proactive about spending money and figured there has to be
a way to figure this out.  Talking to people who know more about tape and
tape formats than I was the reason for the question.

Again, thanks to you who responded to my original question.  I am still open
to further suggestions and that is what I like about this type of forum.

Dilbert's Words Of Wisdom:
"I love deadlines.  I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they
go flying by."

Dennis Munro    
Badger Mining Corporation
dmunro@badgerminingcorp.com <mailto:dmunro@badgerminingcorp.com> 

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