You would think if TSM is storing each system file that is backed up as a
separate object in the Database, that it would be smart enough to only back
up the "system files" if any of the individual files had changed.

Have you tried submitting your requirement to the ADSM-R list also?

My personal beef with system ojbects is that I can't archive them.  We use
archives to do bare metal restores also so this leaves us also looking at
other solutions.  Currently we use MS backup to backup the system state to
local disk then we can archive that file.  This also could be used as an
alternative to backing up the system ojbects with TSM. (With 4.12 you would
have to change the domain statement to not backup the system objects and
specifically specify the drives you needed backed up.)  You still have the
same amount of data being sent every night (which may not be a big deal to
you but it is to us!) but now it is only one object in the database.  This
now of course changes you bare metal restore steps, but basically you just
replace the "Restore System Objects" with TSM to "Restore System State
Backup" with MS backup.  With Domain Controller restores in W2K we are doing
the system state bakups with MS backup as additional insurance because of
problems we have run into doing bare metal restores relying on System
Objects backed up with TSM.

Tim Rushforth
City of Winnipeg