Well, if RESTORE VOLUME says there is nothing to restore, and q content says
there is, one of them is lying!

Try AUDIT VOLUME 000345
If it says the two files can't be read, then run

AUDIT VOLUME 000356 fix=yes
That should purge the bad DB entries and free up the tape.



-----Original Message-----
From: Matt Simpson [mailto:msimpson AT UKY DOT EDU]
Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2003 4:55 PM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: Need advice on dealing with unreadable tape


I have some tapes that are getting read errors, and I'm trying to
find a graceful way to get out of the mess.

One example is a tape that has 2 files on it, according to "Q CONTENT"
MOVE DATA for that tape fails, because it can't be read.

We have (or think we have) offsite copies of our backup tapes. So I
thought I might be able to recover the files from an offsite copy.
To find which offsite tape(s) I would need, I tried

restore v 000345 p=y

I got messages

ANR0984I Process 622 for RESTORE VOLUME (PREVIEW) started in the
BACKGROUND at 09:28:00.
ANR1233I Restore preview of volumes in primary storage pool
BACKUPONSITE started as process 622.
ANR2110I RESTORE VOLUME started as process 622.
ANR1235I Restore process 622 ended for volumes in storage pool BACKUPONSITE.
ANR0985I Process 622 for RESTORE VOLUME (PREVIEW) running in the
BACKGROUND completed with
completion state SUCCESS at 09:28:00.
ANR1241I Restore preview of volumes in primary storage pool
BACKUPONSITE has ended.  Files
Restored: 0, Bytes Restored: 0.
ANR1256W Volume 000345 contains files that could not be restored.


I assume that means the files didn't get copied to the backup pool
before the tape got flaky.

At this point, I guess I have to assume those backups are toast.  If
they are inactive versions, I can shrug and say I hope they never
want to restore the old versions.  But, as far as I can tell, there
is no way to tell whether a backup on a specific tape is active or
inactive.  If that's true, I need to assume they might be active and
get new backups of them.

If I just delete the volume, with discarddata=yes, and the backups
are active versions, will that force TSM to realize it no longer has
an active backup of those files, and back them up again the next time
the node is backed up?
--


Matt Simpson --  OS/390 Support
219 McVey Hall  -- (859) 257-2900 x300
University Of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506
<mailto:msimpson AT uky DOT edu>
mainframe --   An obsolete device still used by thousands of obsolete
companies serving billions of obsolete customers and making huge obsolete
profits for their obsolete shareholders.  And this year's run twice as fast
as last year's.