  OpenVMS Version, DLT tape media compatibility? 
 The Question is:
 
We are currently running OVMS 6.2 on an Alpha Cluster with a TZ88 DLT drive.
 Our Product Support consultants handle large amounts of Customer Data that is
 sent to us on DLT IV tapes for loading on our cluster. Recently many of the
 tapes are unreadable ret
urning 'tape is not a valid ANSI format' errors. The majority of the Customers
 have moved to OVMS 7.1 / 7.2 and our product Consultants feel that the
 problems are been caused by the differing levels of the o/s. I feel this is
 unlikely and more likely to b
e caused by different types of DLT drives that our Customers may be using.
 
Please could yo clarify whether different levels of OVMS may be contributing to
 these taper errors or is it linked to the hardware.
 
Regards,
Mike Whorley
 
 The Answer is:
 
  The operating system version is unlikely to be particularly involved here.
 
  That said, there was a density initialization selection problem latent in
  OpenVMS Alpha V7.2-1 and subsequently repaired via ECO -- though that
  problem does not appear related to this error.
 
  You will want to contact the Compaq Customer Support Center, and provide
  specifics of the source DLT drive and media and command(s) used, the
  OpenVMS version and ECO level of the system(s) originating the DLT media,
  and you will want to provide the full text of any messages received and of
  any relevent error log entries logged, and you will want to specifically
  check if this is a TZ88 or a TZ88N drive -- the latter drive cannot read
  the lower-density DLT media.
 
  The OpenVMS Wizard will assume that local tape operations are successful,
  and that you have tried these transfers with known-new and good quality
  tape media, and that you have used the cleaning cartridge, and that there
  are no unusual hardware errors being logged.
 
