Re: Ultrium 4 Tape Initialization

The SA calls the shots. He spouts off about how important a backup is, but
then decides he knows enough. He played with the idea of using BRMS. Not
used here. Probably won't be. The concept of unique media identification
may have been too "involved".

Aggressive antisocial personality >might< be appropriate >IF< accompanied
by wisdom..................

Lucky for us that the i is a very rugged system.

I still have a cringing sensation from an experience I had 23 years ago
with a Xenix system. Disk controller got off frequency. Arrived at work to
find a REALLY messed up computer. But, I had a full backup from the
previous day.




-----Original message-----
From: rob@xxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 17 May 2010 08:36:32 -0500
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Ultrium 4 Tape Initialization

They didn't even care when you showed them the PRTERRLOG? Wow!
Try ordering a tape library system where the tapes HAVE to be barcoded

AND

have different volume id's. Push for BRMS or some similar product.


Rob Berendt
--
Group Dekko Services, LLC
Dept 01.073
Dock 108
6928N 400E
Kendallville, IN 46755
http://www.dekko.com





From: jmmckee <jmmckee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Midrange Systems Technical Discussion" <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx

Date: 05/15/2010 01:32 AM
Subject: Re: Ultrium 4 Tape Initialization
Sent by: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx



Really annoys me that procedure where I work is to initialize the tape
every night. Old habits die painfully hard. I have suggested that the
expiration date be changed from *PERM to a value more in line with the
tape rotation. That date could be generated from a CL program.

My biggest issue with continual tape initialization, beyond excessive

wear

and tear (which is a big issue), is that the wrong tape could be pulled
and the data destroyed.

I have also complained that tapes should have unique volume numbers, not
stupid things like DAILY. But, nobody seems to care. I even showed them
PRTERRLOG output. And people wonder why things fail sometimes.

I worked in a bank thirty years ago that used 9 track tape. Only time
tapes were initialized was when the BOT marker was replaced.

John McKee


-----Original message-----
From: Simon Coulter shc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 14 May 2010 19:03:14 -0500
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Ultrium 4 Tape Initialization

On 15/05/2010, at 5:35 AM, rob@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

But on a nightly
basis you do not need to run CLEAR(*YES). You will still have all

the

tape space available if you run CLEAR(*NO). Basically it wiped out
the
header and goes from there. Trust me, it just works. We've been
doing
this for decades.

But why, on a nightly basis, do so many of you run INZTAP anyway? Just
start the save at sequence 1 and let the save overwrite the previous
data. By constantly running INZTAP you:
a) wear out the start of the tape :)
and
b) mess up the read/write error statistics for the tape.

Sure, initialise and clear a tape prior to disposing of it but
otherwise a tape should be initialised once and just reused.

Regards,
Simon Coulter.
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