We use 3590 J's and K's. I've been asked what the lifespan of these tapes are. I've seen where the shelf life might be 10-12 years, but have not been able to find anything about the regular use of them. Our tapes are returned to scratch when they become empty, so they are not private tapes. It's my undertanding that we lose the number of mounts for the tape when it is moved from scratch into a private storage pool. Is there a way to track it's usage and and know when it's reaching it's maximum lifespan? Is there an approximate lifespan for these tapes when used regularly? Or do I just wait until IO errors start occurring and remove it then?
Thanks, Diana
