On Mon, 13 Jan 1997 15:22:15, [log in to unmask] writes:

>For the second time in less than one month I got paged by our backup job
>with an error.  In each case the problem was with a different tape drive but
>in both cases an 120M DDS2 tape was involved.  The error messages on the
>console were:
>MPE XL Status: Subsystem 113, error -44
>The media on device 'xx' is bad
>
>These were the first 'media' errors since we got these systems, almost 2
>years ago.  We started using the DDS2 tapes, sparingly, in the last few
>months and having two errors in a month makes me wonder if there may be
>something inherently wrong with the 120M DDS2 tapes or just with our batch.
>
>Any similar experiences?

Paul:

We have the DDS1 drives (take 60M tapes), but the only time I have seen
"bad media" errors is when the drive is getting ready to fail.  This does
not rule out a truly bad tape, but the HP service rep told me that at their
larger sites (with multiple DDS drives) they (HP) replace a drive every three
to six months as a PM.  I've been at my current employer just over two years
and we've had two new drives installed in that time.

Just my $.02 worth, YMMV.

Jim Phillips                            Manager of Information Systems
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]      Therm-O-Link, Inc.
Phone: (330) 527-2124                   P. O. Box 285
  Fax: (330) 527-2123                   Garrettsville, Ohio  44231