Mark I believe the behaviour you're seeing is by design. IBM chose a number that was larger than the expected maximum number of tape drives. The actual number chosen as the seed for the persistent tape names is 4801101 because it's hex equivalent is 0x49424d, and this in turn is the ASCII codes for IBM strung together.
More of an in-joke among the device driver developers than anything more complex, I suspect. Regards Neil ----------------------------------------- Find out how our new character Numptee is causing all sorts of problems by putting the wrong things down his toilet and drains - check out his videos and look at what you can do to help keep your drains running free. Visit http://www.yorkshirewater.com/binit The information in this e-mail is confidential and may also be legally privileged. The contents are intended for recipient only and are subject to the legal notice available at http://www.keldagroup.com/email.htm Yorkshire Water Services Limited Registered Office Western House Halifax Road Bradford BD6 2SZ Registered in England and Wales No 2366682