On Dec 22, 2006, at 10:03 AM, Brian Wheeler wrote:

Hello all!

I'm maintaining a 3494 w/3 3590 drives that is getting a bit long
in the
tooth and short on capacity.  ...

I'd generally recommend that sites plan to migrate to later
generations of their tape drive technology, which allows maintaining
a healthy capacity margin within the confines of the existing
library.  In this case, I would recommend 3592 drives.  We added some
to our 3494 as 3590 capacity approached exhaustion, and have been
totally satisfied: excellent speed, wonderful capacity, with no new
library additions or floor space/power consumption.  (This was a good
move, as our old 3590 drives are exhibiting more and more
functionality problems, with IBM having to work on the same drive
four times to correct its problems.)

If at all possible, go with a straightforward solution like this
rather than some cobbled-together compensatory stuff which you'll
come to regret, as having to attend to its irregularities saps your
limited time.

   Richard Sims, Sr. Systems Programmer
                 Boston University Office of Information Technology