Peter -

See entry "Unavailable" in ADSM QuickFacts for conventional
information on that status of your problem tape.  Best practice in a
shop is to have a periodic (nightly) job query for unusual volume
states that may not be caught in a TSM activity monitor.  You can go
back into the server Activity Log and see how the volume got that
way.  Often, it's a volume that was victim to a library or drive
malfunction, and may need manual action to return it to service.  Or,
you may have to recover a volume, a procedure which is generally
discussed in the Admin Guide manual.  QuickFacts also has a "Bad
tape, how to handle" topic that may help.  It's largely a matter of
finding out how a volume got to its current state, and then dealing
with it accordingly.

   Richard Sims