>        Now the question, we have been told that the new drives will read
>and write to our current "J" tapes just fine. They will read the 128 tracks
>256 tracks. As we cycle in the older tapes in for reclaiming they all become
>256 track at some point. We generally have about 5-6 tapes a day go offsite
>and about that many returning each day as well. Is this correct??

I can't verify how many of your tapes go offsite each day, but can verify
that J tapes that are re-used get written as 256-track in 3590E drives and
thus double your capacity.

>        I also understand the E1A drives will work the best if we go to the
>newer "K" tapes, however you can't have "J" and "K" tapes in the library at
>the same time for some reason.

Yes, you can, and many of us do.  Refer to the server README file for
particulars on upgrading your drives in a TSM environment.

  Richard Sims, BU