We have 2 3494's with a total of 15 3590 drives attached to a mainframe, and
to Windows TSM.
We started with the B drives, upgraded them 18 mo ago to E drives.

Performance/availability of both drive models has been superb.  (We upgraded
for capacity, not availability issues.)

We occasionally see a tape dismount failure.  We have also had the "brushes"
wear out and have to be replaced.     But when the CE fixes that sort of
thing, it stays fixed.  We definitely see less than 1 service call per year,
per drive, not repetitive problems.

The 3590 drives (B or E, I have no experience with H yet), along with the
STK 9840's, are the most robust drives on the market today (well, except
maybe those things in the "black boxes" on airplanes....)  You should NOT be
having ANY repetitive hardware problems with them.

Most repetitive problems with this type of drive turn out to be backlevel
microcode, or bad media.

You should manage your media aggressively - make sure you keep a list of
which tape is in the drive when you have a problem, and if the same tape
shows up twice remove it from the 3494, at least until this problem is
resolved.

Yell at your CE, a lot.  Make him/her check the microcode levels.
Call the district CE manager and demand an explanation of why you are
continuing to have problems with IBM's premier enterprise class drive that
works great for other sites.  Make them call in the district technical
specialist.  Keep him/her on site until the problems go away.  Demand that
if they can't fix the drives, they replace the whole thing (that usually
gets their attention).

Sometimes, you have to yell if you aren't getting sufficient service.  And
sometimes, your CE just needs some help getting the problem escalated in his
management chain.  BUT, these drives should work.  You shouldn't have to
upgrade to get rid of hardware problems.


-----Original Message-----
From: Martina Sawatzki [mailto:msa AT OERAG DOT DE]
Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2002 5:50 AM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: 3590 Tape Drives


Hi,

We are working with a 3494 IBM silo with 4  drives - 3590 type B -  which
is connected to a RS/6000. As we are having lots of  hardware problems with
these drives we think about changing them to 3590 drives type E.
Does anyone have experience with this type of tape drive ? I`m mainly
interested in a kind of comparison concerning performance and availibility
between the both types B -> E.

Thanks a lot
Martina