Question:
I'm interested in knowing if there is an industry role of thumb regarding the pre-staging/climatiztion of 1/2 inch tape cartridges before they can be mounted? For example: if my tape cartridges are being shipped to me from my off-site vendor. How long is required for the tapes to acclimate to the new environment before they can be used?
Answer 1:
Normally you want
tapes to "climatize" to the environment they are going to run
in. The actual time would vary with the conditions they travelled through.
A tape being sent by a UPS truck in Florida during a July wet spell or
in a car trunk during a balmy Alaskan New Years day will need greater
care than a November day in the New York metropolitan area.
The old rule of thumb used to be 24 hours although I have seen people
run them through tape cleaners when they had moisture on them from a rain
storm. If they were kept under air conditioned and humidified environment
during the delivery they shouldn't need any time at all. During DR tests
we often send a messenger to pick up missed tapes or current data files
and process them as soon as they arrive at the hot site. Recognizing that
the risks are far less than in an actual recovery I may take greater license
with the process but have done this without problems in April, July, October
and December test periods.
Rich Rehak
Answer 2:
Different tape
manufacturers may have different requirements. Suggest
contacting the tape vendor.
Randy Sinisi
IBM Business Continuity and Recovery Services
The responses reflect the views of the individual EAB member, and do not necessarily reflect the views of their employers, the DRJ, or the EAB as a whole.