G'day,

Actually, new tapes are not needed. You can read a tape written on a 3590 'B' 
on an 'E' drive, but you can't write to it until it has been emptied. Once it 
has, the 'E' drive will start writting 256 tracks rather than the current 128 
tracks. Take a look at the README file for server release 3.1.2.22.

There is another rumoured upgrade to the 3590 that will use double length carts 
('K' carts rather than the current 'J' carts). That, assuming that one day it 
gets released, does need new media, but the existing media should be able to 
continue to be used in both read and write mode without any problems.


Trevor