Yes, TSM keeps track of where files are on media, but that info is
not exposed to customers. In any case, you should not consider
attempting physical retrieval of TSM-stored data without TSM due to
factors such as any specialized methods by which TSM may have stored
the data (which are proprietary and publicly undefined, including
Aggregation) and complications such as files spanning volumes.

The most straightforward course of action is to proceed as you have
been: get a list of files by volume and then perform Retrieve in that
order.  Remember that the important thing here is the veracity of the
retrieved data, with speed being secondary.  More quickly obtaining
data which is questionable is not a worthy goal.

   Richard Sims

On Oct 14, 2005, at 6:22 PM, Justin Derrick wrote:

Hi TSMers...

I'm working on a project to extract archived data from almost 2000
optical platters.  The data needs to come out of TSM temporarily, be
reprocessed, and eventually, loaded back into TSM.  The problem is, I
want to do this in the most efficient way possible, and I'm having a
little trouble.

At this point in time, I'm getting the contents of individual volumes
with a select statement, similar to a 'query content'.  The only
catch is, I want to read all the files on one side of the platter
before switching it over to prevent the library from flopping
platters back and forth, which eats into the aggregate transfer speed.

Are their 'secret' tables or columns inside TSM that can tell me what
the exact location of a file on a platter is?  How does TSM know when
it's mounting a platter if it needs to be flipped over for a
retrieval?

Any assistance, information, guidance, etc. will be greatly
appreciated.

Have a great weekend!

-JD.