Yes from what I understand you can't degauss 3590 tapes. This is because they have factory written servo tracks that would be destroyed in the process, and make the tapes useless.
Apart from writing some junk data all over the tapes, there is an erase command I believe. In Aix its something like "tctl -f /dev/rmtxx erase" But again this writes along the whole tape, and with 3200 carts will take a long time. My advice would be. If you are paranoiac, or you do not know where the carts will end up or do not trust the new owners to act in good faith then you should destroy them. What value does your organisation place on its data privacy V the secondhand value of the cartridges ? Jason Bamford Tivoli EMEA ----- Original Message ----- From: "Zlatko Krastev/ACIT" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, January 04, 2002 12:00 AM Subject: Re: 3590 Tapes. > (1) is an option but time consuming (3200 tapes!) > (2) might not be an option - it depends how paranoic you are. If someone > (usually a virus) fills sector 0 on a PC disk with garbage this does not > automatically mean the data is lost. But it might take too much efforts. If > the tapes are not degaused there is a chance that reading them might > uncover somehow at least some files (especially large ones occupy large > continuous blocks on the tape). And if you are very, very paranoic ... > > Zlatko Krastev > IT Consultant > > > > > > "Joshua S. Bassi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> on 03.01.2002 20:29:59 > Please respond to "ADSM: Dist Stor Manager" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > cc: > > Subject: Re: 3590 Tapes. > > There are several ways to do this: > > 1) Use another backup utility to write over the tape. You can use tar, > cpio, NT backup, or whatever to write over either the whole tape or > merely the TSM label. > > 2) Just do # 1 above to the TSM DB backups since the remaining tapes are > useless without the DB backup. > > 3) Relabel the tapes using TSM - this could be the easiest if you no > longer want any of the data in the tape library. > > > -- > Joshua S. Bassi > Independent Consultant & IBM Server/Storage Sales Rep. > IBM Certified - AIX/HACMP, SAN, Shark > Tivoli Certified Consultant- ADSM/TSM > Cell (408)&(831) 332-4006 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > -----Original Message----- > From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of > Michael, Monte > Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2002 7:34 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: 3590 Tapes. > > I am currently in the process of replacing all of my 3590 tapes in my > ATL > with new 3590 EXTENDED length cartridges. I have a buyer for the 3200 > 3590 > tapes I am removing from TSM/ATL. How do I go about making sure all > data > has been erased from the old 3590 cartridges? It is my understanding > that > these tapes can not be degaussed. Has anyone ran into this situation > before? > > Thank You....... --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.310 / Virus Database: 171 - Release Date: 20/12/2001
