Backup Tape - Old or New?

[enjay]

I've just found a cleaning tape (LTO4) whilst clearing out my predecessor's desk - is there any way of telling whether or not it has been used?

[6Foot2]

Have a look at your current cleaning tape in your tape drive. If you go to 'Media' and right click the cleaning tape it should show you the stats for that tape [Hours in use/hours remaining]

 

Now if you eject your current cleaning tape and put in the one you found and perform a media inventory you should be able to discover the usage status of your 'new' tape.

[enjay]

No mention of the total hours for the tape, only the number of mounts (which isn't even correct)

[6Foot2]

I had a cleaning tape that I tried to use after it had expired [Number of mounts exceeded] The clean was unsuccessful with the reported error 'Tape expired' This wouldn't tell you how many cleaning cycles remain [if the tape were viable] though...