Thanks.  One thing I'm not clear on is whether I need to set the old B tapes to 
readonly or can I let TSM do it for me.  IBM says that the new drives will not 
write over a non-scratch tape in the old format.  When TSM calls for an output 
tape and the drive detects the old format will it genrate an error that causes 
TSM to mark the tape readonly and then mount a scratch tape?  Or should I set 
the B tapes to readonly before bringing TSM up with the new drives?

Thanks also to those who pointed me to the online archives.

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Louis J. Wiesemann                                             
502-852-8952Louis J. Wiesemann                                             
502-852-8952

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>>> John Marquart <jomarqua AT indiana DOT edu> 07/10/01 12:24PM >>>
The archive is at www.adsm.org.   not sure where the vm.marist.edu pages
point.

in case you haven't gotten your answer - there is no problem w/ the
upgrade.  as long as your drivers are current - and you have space in your
library - you should be ok.   

The biggest gotcha is that your old B tapes will all become readonly -
because the E drive can't write the 128 track B format.  All your new
tapes written in E (256 track) format will reflect the proper
capacity.  If you are running mostly backups - and have a constant stream
of migrations / reclamations -  you can probably leave things alone.  if
your data is pretty static once it hits tape - then you might want to do
"move data"s on those tapes.

-john