if you are running tsm or adsm you can try the following command

     DELETE VOL ***** DISCARD=YES

     (***) = volname


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: deleting data of tape cartridges
Author:  uwe.schonacher (uwe.schonacher AT ECB DOT INT) at MM
Date:    19/03/2001 11:02 AM


Hi Chaps,

does anybody know a method of deleting data on tape cartridges (3590)
without rewriting and destroying them? We need to wipe out round about 200
tape cartridges an looking for a efficient method to do this.

Thanks
Uwe