getting Not Appendable (End marker unreadable)

Ken is correct.  The tapes are readable, up to that point, but they are not appendable, regardless of the append properties you give it.  They are overwritable and erasable.  The tapes are not bad.

If this keeps happening, check into your failing jobs.  SCSI issues and hardware issues are common causes.

ok thank you, i will need to look into this then. thanks

Try to clean the tape drives.

In the past when I had this error often enough, if a drive cleaning did not resolve the issue, I had drive issues.

I have also seen this when the tape media itself was wearing out.  (Several years of regular use)  I'd say that if cleaning the drive doesn't help, consider using different tapes.

to clarify my comment.... your tapes MAY be bad (as the others indicated).  What I meant to say was that your tapes are not bad simply because the end marker is unreadable.  There are multiple reasons a tape can be marked end-marker-unreadable.  You won't know the true reason until you do some more research or run into it again.

Ok thanks guys for the responses, now lets say all the tapes i have in the library all have the end marker unreadable but they are all overwritable, will the tape that gets selected for that nights job be overwritten and then (hopefully) have the end marker written properly?

Ok thanks guys for the responses, now lets say all the tapes i have in the library all have the end marker unreadable but they are all overwritable, will the tape that gets selected for that nights job be overwritten and then (hopefully) have the end marker written properly?

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Should  be fine to use these tapes for Overwrite Jobs.  If the same thing happens again, you would need to start some intensive troubleshooting with the earlier suggestions