Re: Is a "test" tape really necessary?

The test tape is a much shorter tape. Certain diagnostics sometime want to
check things like
if it can detect The EOT on the tape or will want to write a full tape of
data and with the Test Tape those things don't take forever like they would
on a full sized tape,

To do a simple can I write and read files/libraries etc to/from the tape,
use what you have.


On Thu, May 2, 2013 at 7:21 AM, <rob@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Is it important to have a "test" tape (45E1129 LTO-4 Test Cartridge) or
will a regular data cartridge be ok?

From what I've read test LTO tapes are no shorter than production LTO

tapes.
When I read about performing tests it always says that if you use a
production tape make sure that you don't care if the data gets erased on
it, because it will get erased. This leads me to believe that I can run
tests with production tapes.

Finding test tapes, which some are listed as "not customer orderable", is
hard. And we've got quite a discount on quantities of LTO4 production
tapes.

Performing test procedures:

http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/powersys/v3r1m5/topic/iphdt/fc5746selftest.htm

Types of tape cartridges for use in LTO4 drives:

http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/powersys/v3r1m5/index.jsp?topic=/p7hdt/fc5746selftest.htm


Rob Berendt
--
IBM Certified System Administrator - IBM i 6.1
Group Dekko
Dept 1600
Mail to: 2505 Dekko Drive
Garrett, IN 46738
Ship to: Dock 108
6928N 400E
Kendallville, IN 46755
http://www.dekko.com

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