Well, if RESTORE VOLUME says there is nothing to restore, and q content says there is, one of them is lying!
Try AUDIT VOLUME 000345 If it says the two files can't be read, then run AUDIT VOLUME 000356 fix=yes That should purge the bad DB entries and free up the tape. -----Original Message----- From: Matt Simpson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2003 4:55 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Need advice on dealing with unreadable tape I have some tapes that are getting read errors, and I'm trying to find a graceful way to get out of the mess. One example is a tape that has 2 files on it, according to "Q CONTENT" MOVE DATA for that tape fails, because it can't be read. We have (or think we have) offsite copies of our backup tapes. So I thought I might be able to recover the files from an offsite copy. To find which offsite tape(s) I would need, I tried restore v 000345 p=y I got messages ANR0984I Process 622 for RESTORE VOLUME (PREVIEW) started in the BACKGROUND at 09:28:00. ANR1233I Restore preview of volumes in primary storage pool BACKUPONSITE started as process 622. ANR2110I RESTORE VOLUME started as process 622. ANR1235I Restore process 622 ended for volumes in storage pool BACKUPONSITE. ANR0985I Process 622 for RESTORE VOLUME (PREVIEW) running in the BACKGROUND completed with completion state SUCCESS at 09:28:00. ANR1241I Restore preview of volumes in primary storage pool BACKUPONSITE has ended. Files Restored: 0, Bytes Restored: 0. ANR1256W Volume 000345 contains files that could not be restored. I assume that means the files didn't get copied to the backup pool before the tape got flaky. At this point, I guess I have to assume those backups are toast. If they are inactive versions, I can shrug and say I hope they never want to restore the old versions. But, as far as I can tell, there is no way to tell whether a backup on a specific tape is active or inactive. If that's true, I need to assume they might be active and get new backups of them. If I just delete the volume, with discarddata=yes, and the backups are active versions, will that force TSM to realize it no longer has an active backup of those files, and back them up again the next time the node is backed up? -- Matt Simpson -- OS/390 Support 219 McVey Hall -- (859) 257-2900 x300 University Of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506 <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> mainframe -- An obsolete device still used by thousands of obsolete companies serving billions of obsolete customers and making huge obsolete profits for their obsolete shareholders. And this year's run twice as fast as last year's.