Hmm depending on your budget and how valuable the clients data is I guess.
And how much "nerve" you have. :-))

I reckon,  1 write error is enough for me to move the data and get that data
across to a new tape.

Check the contents and verify the tape. Then move a.s.a.p

Cheers

Stephen





-----Original Message-----
From: Adam J. Boyer [mailto:Adam.J.Boyer AT FRB DOT GOV]
Sent: 21 April, 2003 9:57 PM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: When to declare a tape dead


Greetings all,

We're currently using a 3494 with 3590E drives, and

I have accumulated several tape volumes with write errors = 1, and one with
write errors > 1.   Just wondering how I should determine if a  tape is
truly dead or "mostly-dead", and when a given error is ignorable or
workable?  Is the number of write errors a good indication?

(I've noticed that the errors are distributed across drives, so as not to
point to a single drive.  Also, all drives have been recently upgraded to
new microcode.)

Thanks much,
adam