Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!dino!ceres!wtr
From: wtr@ceres.physics.uiowa.edu
Newsgroups: comp.periphs
Subject: RE: 9-track tape reuse
Message-ID: <21470.251760bb@ceres.physics.uiowa.edu>
Date: 20 Sep 89 15:04:43 GMT
References: <2383@infmx.UUCP>
Distribution: na
Organization: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa
Lines: 23

In article <2383@infmx.UUCP>, jms@infmx.UUCP (John Stephens) writes:
> We are in the process of phasing a couple of Plexus boxes out of
> circulation and now have a fairly large number of tapes which have
> been used for incremental backups in the past and are available
> for re-use.  My question: is this a good idea ?
> 
> What sort of experience have people had with cleaning and re-using 9
> track tapes

  We have re-used tapes from a number of sources for years here
at the Physics Dept. At Univ. of Iowa successfully.
  The ability to clean and test tapes makes this possible for us.  When
we receive tapes that are to be re-used, we clean and test each tape
and discard any problem tapes.  Typically 80% - 90% of the tapes
appear to be suitable for use (any that test bad are simply discarded).
  We also tend to sort the 'good' tapes into several groups according
to the number of bad spots on the tape and distribute them accordingly.
  Also keep in mind that GCR tape drives (i.e. 6250 bpi) are a little
less sensetive to bad spots on the tape than PE (i.e. 1600 bpi) drives
are.

Bill Robison
SYSWTR@IOWASP.PHYSICS.UIOWA.EDU