Thanks to everyone for their very helpful replies to my question.  I
have some more investigation to do but am leaning toward sticking with
the "IBM" tapes, given that in almost 3 years (and 520 tapes) we've had
only 3 tapes fail.  Mark's point "How much is your data worth?" is a
very good one.

Thanks very much,

--
Graham Stewart
Network and Storage Services Manager, Information Technology Services
University of Toronto Library
130 St. George Street
Toronto, Ontario        graham.stewart AT utoronto DOT ca
Canada   M5S 1A5        Phone: 416-978-6337 | Fax: 416-978-1668


Richard Sims wrote:

The experienced-based responses on this issue have been excellent,
and demonstrate the great value of our forum.

I don't believe it's been noted in past postings, but there is a
Tape Technology Council (http://www.tapecouncil.org/), whose mission
is to increase the awareness and understanding of taep technology,
and to serve as a resource of information.  Of pertinent note to
this topic, they have an "Ask the Expert" form under the Resources
tab, where you can ask questions about tape.  This might be an
interesting approach to take in pursuing batch quality issues.
Don't miss the excellent Articles section under that tab.

Some other things worth checking out:

  ADSM-TSM history (Mike Kaczmarski article for Computer Technology Review):
    www.plcs.nl/upload/files/nieuws/TSM%2010%20Years.pdf
 or www-1.ibm.com/industries/cpe/download9/19719/TSM_10_Years_CTR_Reprint.pdf

  "Is it Tape *and* Disk or Tape *versus* Disk?"
        http://wwpi.com/CTR_Current/June04_2.asp

 Richard Sims     http://people.bu.edu/rbs