[Please don't cross-post.]

On Thu, 27 Jul 2006, Alan Pearson wrote:

It happened because some large files were added in between amcheck and
amdump, and over the past month more machines added, taking us nearer the
tape capacity. I will add more tapes (when they arrive !!), but it _could_
still happen, and I believe it should NEVER be allowed to happen that you
get into a state where you don't have a full backup of the machine.

Well let's consider your options...  If the next tape in sequence has a
dump you don't want overwritten, then you need to pull it out of the
sequence and put it in a drawer somewhere to keep it safe.  Then you'll
want to go to the next tape in the sequence.  But if your tape cycle is
too short you're likely to have the same problem with that one, too.  If
your plan is to write to holding disk until a new box of tapes arrive then
don't put any tape in the drive.  If you're this short on space (and yes I
know it happens, it's happening to me right now, too) then you have to
monitor things closely.  Keep an eye on amcheck output, your daily amdump
e-mails, and on amoverview.  I really doubt you're going to find a
majority of amanda users who agree with changing the system to write nothing
to the tape that's in the drive when it's the correct next tape in sequence,
just because your data doesn't fit on the number of tapes you've providing.

-Mitch