We have 3590 drives in a 3494 on AIX.  When the 3590 drives were stand-alone
(before we got the 3494), we had only a couple of tapes that went bad, and
one of those was bad when we first tried to use it.  Recently, we added
drives to the 3494 and nobody "taught" the library so it jammed tapes in the
new drives.  We lost 6 tapes before we figured out what was happening.
Other than that, they've been working fine for the past 2-1/2 years.

Tina

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim Hood [SMTP:Jim.Hood AT SMED DOT COM]
> Sent: Monday, March 01, 1999 10:09 AM
> To:   ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
> Subject:      Re: Why is MagStar so good -- it just is
>
> 3590 Magstar...
>
> I am running ADSM on MVS 3.1.2.0 (OS/390 2.5) with Magstar 3494 libraries
> (one primary tape pool, the other my electronic vault/copy pool).   My
> copy
> groups are DFSMS controlled System Managed Tape storage groups.
> Everything
> is automated.  I am getting a utilization range of FULL tapes between 10 -
> 68 gigabytes (this depends upon the file types on the tape) with
> compression on standard 3590 cartridges.   With just about a year of this
> venture underway I can truthfully say that there have been zero tape media
> or drive problems.  All maintenance is proactive with microcode fixes
> applied as soon as they become available.  Another ADSM server on AIX
> running on an SP/2 has been using Magstar 3494 with 3590 drives for over
> two years with similar success.  Each environment can be recovered at our
> Business Recovery site using manual 3590 drives.  Using a Magstar 3494
> allows you to leverage your asset across multiple systems if you need to
> do
> that.  Since the 3494 (and the 3590 drives within it) can be partitioned
> across multiple platforms (we use one across MVS, SP/2, and AS/400) you
> can
> achieve your storage requirements in one footprint.  IBM offers
> non-library
> rack mounted 3590 tape subsystems for the server world too.
>
> There are a lot of large capacity media offerings and I will confess that
> I
> don't know much about the AIT, DLT, etc. world.   What I do know is that
> price, speed and automation are certainly factors to consider, but do not
> overlook the "speed to data" factor -- how fast can I get to my data when
> needed.   The Magstar 3590 uses serpentine longitudinal recording that
> produces 128 tracks of data on the media with fast search capability
> across
> the tape to data rather than traditional search for data along the length
> of the tape (and for long tape this can be a long time).
>
> Also, don't overlook the Magstar MP (3570 or 3575) tape subsystem.  Same
> technical ideas in a different footprint.
>
> By the way, I don't work for IBM...just a satisfied customer.
>
> Jim Hood ... Shared Medical Systems ... Malvern, PA