I would automate the check out process and run it before the check in process.  
That will keep the old tapes at the bottom of the scratch list.  Provided there 
is enough scratch then the older tapes will not make it to the top.
TSM will reuse a tape immediately if it is mounted and becomes scratch.
I suspect TSM will not know the full barcode and may not be able to know which 
type of media.  Being a read-only tape it should have an error and try another 
tape.

Andy Huebner

-----Original Message-----
From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On Behalf Of 
Rhodes, Richard L.
Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2014 11:19 AM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: [ADSM-L] 3584 upgrade: 3592-E05 to 3592-E07

Hi,

This weekend we are upgrading all of our tape drives (in 2 libraries) from 
3592-E05 (TS1120) to 3592-E07 (TS1140).

The libraries currently have a mix of JA and JB media.
We will be migrating over time to all new JC media.

JA tapes are READONLY   on 3592-E07 drives.
JB tapes are READ/WRITE on 3592-E07 drives.

The plan is to:
- Export out of the lib all current scratch JA/JB media.
- Mark all existing JA/JB media ReadOnly.
- Insert lots of new JC media.
- TSM will write to the new JC tapes.
- As JA/JB tapes drop to scratch, export them out of the
    Library, and insert more JC media.

When JA/JB tapes drop to SCRATCH status, I'm not sure I will always be able to 
export them before TSM might try and reuse them.  If TSM tries to use a JB 
tape, that is OK - it will work.  But what if TSM selects a JA tape and tries 
to use it.  That would fail since
3592-E07 drives can READ JA media but NOT WRITE to them.

Q) Is TSM smart enough to not load a JA media into a 3592-E07
   drive for writing?

TSM has the media_type of all tapes (q libvol f=d), so I would think it should 
know not to do this.

Thanks

Rick






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