How old is a DLT tape?

[Stuart Keir]

Hi;

I was wondering if anybody had wondered how old a DLT tape is?

There are serial numbers on each tape. Is it possible from this to determine, at least the manufacture date?

[Vincent Farrugia]

Hello,

Why do you need this data? DLT tape IV (black ones) have a life of 20 years or 500,000 passes.

HTH,
Vince

[Stuart Keir]

I would like to know how to identify which tapes in my system are the oldest, so I can plan and know how many I need to replace at a time.

[Ted Ellis_2]

If you think you will actually need to plan on replacing tapes of the same type due to use or lifespan, then your best bet is to take a serial number and contact the manufacturer... Fuji or whoever and ask them. They may be able to give you a made on date or some equivalent. I think the first response you got points out one thing... the odds of you actually needing to replace any tape due to number of uses or exceeding the life of a tape is extemely unlikely. BY the time you reach this point, you will most definitely be working with a new tape standard and simply purchase the new type to replace the old. We had 10 year old tapes (Compaq and Compaq II.. yeah) and we went through a re-archive drill that put them all on Ultrium tapes... can't imagine doing it with anything older.

[Marino Meloni_1]

hi
the best way is to check in the Backup Sw database, lot of SW assign an internal number to each cartridge, with his history.
Ask your ISV to see where the info are stored

bye
Marino

[Kurt Beyers.]

Stewart,

If you have a problem with a certain DLT tape during a backup, write down the tape number. If you have another problem with the same tape, replace it.

This is the typical procedure that I follow with DLT/LTO tapes.

Kurt