Geoff,

What you will need to do is offline a 3590 in TSM so it'll be available from
the OS.  It's been a while, so I don't recall if you will also have to
delete it or not.  Talk to your 3494 library manager to mount the tape in
the available drive.  (When I last used one the library manager was OS2, and
we couldn't remote control it.  I would have had to walk over there.  I
don't know how that works nowadays, though.)  Use the /usr/bin/dd command to
write over the tape.

With my STK 9310 silo, it'd be about the same except I don't have to
delete/offline the drive in TSM because there are no defined devices in TSM.
I'd have ACSLS mount the tape in a drive, then pipe a bunch of 1's, 0's, or
a random mix of 1's and 0's into dd.

Alex Paschal
Storage Administrator
Freightliner, LLC
(503) 745-6850 phone/vmail

-----Original Message-----
From: Gill, Geoffrey L. [mailto:GEOFFREY.L.GILL AT SAIC DOT COM]
Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 9:35 AM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: Re: Overwriting Tapes outside of TSM


I'm just looking for a way to satisfy someone if the requirement is put upon
me. If it can't be done the tapes will have to be replaced. Just trying to
save a lot of money if possible.

Geoff Gill
TSM Administrator
NT Systems Support Engineer
SAIC
E-Mail:   gillg AT saic DOT com
Phone:  (858) 826-4062
Pager:   (877) 905-7154


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kauffman, Tom [mailto:KauffmanT AT NIBCO DOT COM]
> Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 8:35 AM
> To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
> Subject: Re: Overwriting Tapes outside of TSM
>
> Geoffrey, I'd have to question the reason behind the requirement.
>
> If this is to be done to a tape (or set of tapes) prior to relabeling and
> using them as scratch in the same library then I'd question why they were
in
> the library in the first place.
>
> If this is to be done prior to removing and disposing of the tapes, then
> much time, effort, and wear on machines can be saved by applying a 5-pound
> sledge-hammer to the tape, followed with a hot wire or hot knife to the
tape
> afterward. The resale value of used 3590E tape is not high enough to make
> secure erasure worth while.