The first three records on a TSM tape are the Standard Labels, which are in 
EBCDIC.  (See "Tape labels" in http://people.bu.edu/rbs/ADSM.QuickFacts).

I would try Move Data in TSM, repeating on multiple drives if necessary, to 
copy as much data as can be copied; then employ Restore Volume (presuming it is 
a primary pool tape) to recover the rest, then retire the bad tape or perform 
further evaluations on it using tapeutil.  It may not be the tape that is bad, 
per se: one drive may be acting up, which may have affected a number of tapes: 
such tapes might be quite usable with drives that are in good condition.

    Richard Sims

On Jun 17, 2011, at 9:32 AM, Meuleman, Ruud wrote:

> The tape where the copy is, isn't also readable.
> 
> It is possible to use the dd command. Coping blocks to file is possible,
> but I still read it.
> 
> # dd bs=256k count=20 if=/dev/rmt10 of=/tmp/cpp.out
> 0+3 records in
> 0+3 records out
> 
> # more cpp.out
> M-eM-VM-SM-qM-pM-vM-pM-tM-uM-x@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
> @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@M-HM-DM-YM-qM-AM-DM-bM-TKM-BM-FM-bKM-eM-pM-p
> M-qM-pM-rM-B
> M-A@@@@@@M-pM-pM-pM-qM-pM-pM-pM-q@@@@@@M-pM-pM-xM-sM-qM-t@M-yM-yM-sM-vM-
> uM-pM-pM-pM-pM-pM-pM-pM-AM-DM-bM-T@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@M-HM-DM-YM-rM-dM-rM-vM
> -rM-qM-tM-pM-p
> M-pM-pM-p@M-p@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
> @@@@
> 
> Should we skip some blocks with TSMtape, before we get to the actual
> data?
> 
> Kind Regards,
> Ruud Meuleman