ADSM-L

Re: Re: 3494 & Media Type

2006-04-11 12:15:09
Subject: Re: Re: 3494 & Media Type
From: David Bronder <david-bronder AT UIOWA DOT EDU>
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 11:08:54 -0500
Richard Sims wrote:
>
> On Apr 11, 2006, at 8:23 AM, David E Ehresman wrote:
>
> > How does the 3494 determine which 'media type', e.g. 3590 J or K, a cart
> > is? Our 3494 is starting to eject tapes as they are inserted complaining
> > about unknown media type.
>
> We've seen the same thing here, with J tapes coming back from offsite:
> insert a bunch, have one or two rejected with that media complaint.
> Reinsert (one at a time), and the library then accepts the tape.
> It may be that the laser/receptor is having trouble reading the 'J'
> stickerette, where rubbing one's finger over it before inserting may
> remove some residue which is imperceptible to us.

We've also seen this issue with varying frequency.  Another trick that
has helped some of the time is to reposition the VOLSER barcode label
slightly.  The barcode reader is sensitive to both the spacing between
the VOLSER and media type labels, and the relative alignment of the
barcode on each label.

Other things we've tried include rubbing the media type label with a
pencil eraser to dull the glare (some are really shiny), and covering
the glass windows on the top of the frames to keep out direct light.
Both suggestions came from IBM tape "top guns", IIRC.  Mixed results in
our case, though.  No single solution has solved all of ours.

I wanted to look at setting VOLSER ranges, but have hesitated because I
have to coordinate with our SE and our mainframe guys to make sure I
don't break their VTS in the process.  Maybe I'll pursue that now.

=Dave

--
Hello World.                                    David Bronder - Systems Admin
Segmentation Fault                                     ITS-SPA, Univ. of Iowa
Core dumped, disk trashed, quota filled, soda warm.   david-bronder AT uiowa 
DOT edu

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