On Feb 23, 2006, at 10:48 AM, Dave Zarnoch wrote:

I calculated that our DB is @61GB
The manufacturer says the tape can hold 50GB compressed

What do you think is happening?

Magic.

Your posting did not specify which level of 9840 drive/cartridge
technology is being used. I'll then assume 9840A. Info I found online
says of the basic 9840:

"The native 20GB cartridge capacity can be significantly extended by
StorageTek's enhanced LZ-1 compression technology (4:1 compression is
typical)."

As your concerns express, however, you are near the edge of a cliff,
and the best general advice in life is "Stay away from the edge." I
would pursue modernization of tape technologies there. If demands
pushed your TSM db further, you might consider firing up a second TSM
server.

   Richard Sims