02-27-2006
I am not that familiar with Ultrium. Some of the newer tape technologies come with a chip on the tape. It does not rewind the tape when you eject, the chip keeps track of how far into the tape you are. That chip may also keep track of dates. How you'd go about reading it, I don't know.
We have taken to always writing on the tape (with a perminant maker, a silver permanant marker on black ones), the date that the tape arrived (for tapes we open later, we write it on the packaging, and when you break the seal, you write the date on the package on the tape, etc.). If you have bar codes, and you get to pick the names, you can do stuff like your first order, all the tape names start with "A"; your second order, they all start with "B". That way, you can know the "age" of a tape by knowing if it is an "A" tape or a "B" tape, etc.
The "milage" is far more important that the date. A tape you use 3 times a day will wear out faster than the tape you use once a month. Age is a factor when it comes to the glue that holds the magnetic matterial on the tape. The more the tape is flexed (used) the faster the glue wears out, but age in and of itself (even if it just sits on a shelf) can cause the glue to give out. All anyone can give you is an estimate.
I would inquire with the media's manufacturer.
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HT(4) Kernel Interfaces Manual HT(4)
NAME
ht - TM-03/TE-16,TU-45,TU-77 MASSBUS magtape interface
SYNOPSIS
/sys/conf/SYSTEM:
NHT ht_drives # TE16, TU45, TU77
/etc/dtab:
#Name Unit# Addr Vector Br Handler(s) # Comments
ht ? 172440 224 5 htintr # tu 16 massbus tape
major device number(s):
raw: 6
block: 0
minor device encoding:
bits 0003 specify HT drive
bit 0004 specifies no-rewind operation
bit 0010 specifies 1600BPI recording density instead of 800BPI
DESCRIPTION
The tm-03/transport combination provides a standard tape drive interface as described in mtio(4). All drives provide both 800 and 1600
bpi; the TE-16 runs at 45 ips, the TU-45 at 75 ips, while the TU-77 runs at 125 ips and autoloads tapes.
FILES
/dev/MAKEDEV script to create special files
/dev/MAKEDEV.local script to localize special files
SEE ALSO
mt(1), tar(1), tp(1), mtio(4), tm(4), ts(4), dtab(5), autoconfig(8)
DIAGNOSTICS
tu%d: no write ring. An attempt was made to write on the tape drive when no write ring was present; this message is written on the termi-
nal of the user who tried to access the tape.
tu%d: not online. An attempt was made to access the tape while it was offline; this message is written on the terminal of the user who
tried to access the tape.
tu%d: can't change density in mid-tape. An attempt was made to write on a tape at a different density than is already recorded on the
tape. This message is written on the terminal of the user who tried to switch the density.
tu%d: hard error bn%d er=%b ds=%b. A tape error occurred at block bn; the ht error register and drive status register are printed in
octal with the bits symbolically decoded. Any error is fatal on non-raw tape; when possible the driver will have retried the operation
which failed several times before reporting the error.
BUGS
If any non-data error is encountered on non-raw tape, it refuses to do anything more until closed.
The system should remember which controlling terminal has the tape drive open and write error messages to that terminal rather than on the
console.
3rd Berkeley Distribution January 28, 1988 HT(4)