Depending on the VTL, you should be able to access the underlaying operating system (normally some form of unix) via the command line or terminal access and simply reformat the data partitions on the hard drive(s). I know this can be done on Optica, and Luminex and IBM's TS77xx, I am assuming that all other vendors allow the same process. They would be silly not to.
The tapes are actually just disk files on regular hard drives or partitions, and they can be formatted just like any other hard drives. Typically, the vendors have their OS on one drive (or partition) and your data is on one or more other partitions (or completely other drives). You can securely format them with the native (normally unix) format commands, and you can format them to some other disk type if it makes you happy, then format them back to the base type so they can be used by whoever you sell the box to. The entire format process takes about 10 minutes per TB to do a complete format that writes zeros multiple times to each byte. You can quick format if you want but I don't think that will give you the security you are looking for. So, it will run a while, so just start it and go home for a while. Brian On Thu, 13 Sep 2018 22:16:55 -0400, Doug <dsh...@bellsouth.net> wrote: >Maybe I missed a post but, what ‘VTL’ are you running? >IBM has a feature code that a CE can order that will do a data erase on the >library, cache and disk. The physical backend tapes would need to be certified >destroyed. Iron Mountain can do that for you. >Just my 2 cents >Doug > >. > >On Sep 13, 2018, at 17:32, Mike Schwab <mike.a.sch...@gmail.com> wrote: > >Once all the tapes are deleted by writing to all 50K, you just have to >write as many volumes as needed to fill VTS. The large the dataset, >the fewer the volumes. >On Thu, Sep 13, 2018 at 2:52 PM George Rodriguez ><0000016eebd7289b-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote: >> >> That's a big order. There are 50,000 virtual tapes defined in the system... >> WOW! >> >> *George Rodriguez* >> >> *Specialist II - IT Security* >> *PX - 47652* >> *(561) 357-7652 (office)* >> *(954) 415-7586 (mobile)* >> *School District of Palm Beach County* >> *3348 Forest Hill Blvd.* >> *Room B-332* >> *West Palm Beach, FL. 33406-5869* >> *Florida's Only A-Rated Urban District* >> >> >>> On Thu, Sep 13, 2018 at 2:29 PM Mike Schwab <mike.a.sch...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> >>> Overwrite each tape with a one track dataset of low values. >>> Then overwrite tapes with a very large dataset of low values until VTS is >>> full. >>> Repeat one track / large datasets with high values and b'01010101'. >>> >>> Repeat the 3 cycles until desired number of overwrites are accomplished. >>> >>> On Thu, Sep 13, 2018 at 10:16 AM George Rodriguez >>> <0000016eebd7289b-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote: >>>> >>>> The School District of Palm Beach County is finally shutting down the IBM >>>> z10 and all its components. >>>> >>>> I was wondering if any member the listserve can help me with "wiping out" >>>> out VTL. Any help will be greatly appreciated. >>>> >>>> Thanks! >>>> >>>> *George Rodriguez* >>>> >>>> *Specialist II - IT Security* >>>> *PX - 47652* >>>> *(561) 357-7652 (office)* >>>> *(954) 415-7586 (mobile)* >>>> *School District of Palm Beach County* >>>> *3348 Forest Hill Blvd.* >>>> *Room B-332* >>>> *West Palm Beach, FL. 33406-5869* >>>> *Florida's Only A-Rated Urban District* >>>> >>>> -- >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> *Disclaimer: *Under Florida law, e-mail addresses are public records. >>>> If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public >>>> records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, >>>> contact this office by phone or in writing. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >>>> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, >>>> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Mike A Schwab, Springfield IL USA >>> Where do Forest Rangers go to get away from it all? >>> >>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, >>> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN >>> >> >> -- >> >> >> >> >> >> >> *Disclaimer: *Under Florida law, e-mail addresses are public records. >> If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public >> records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, >> contact this office by phone or in writing. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, >> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > > > >-- >Mike A Schwab, Springfield IL USA >Where do Forest Rangers go to get away from it all? > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- >For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, >send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- >For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, >send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
