DENSITY: Specifying the tape density

Explanation: DENSITY is an optional parameter specifying the density of the tape dump volume. The values of the DENSITY parameter are explained:
2
specifies a tape density of 32 bytes per millimeter (800 bytes per inch).
3
specifies a tape density of 63 bytes per millimeter (1600 bytes per inch).
4
specifies a tape density of 246 bytes per millimeter (6250 bytes per inch)

Defaults: If you are adding a tape dump volume to DFSMShsm, the default is the highest density the device can support. If you are changing the attributes of a tape dump volume and do not specify a subparameter, the density does not change.

Note:
  1. The use of the DENSITY parameter is no longer supported for tape backup or ML2 volumes. The DENSITY parameter is still supported for dump volumes and for existing volumes already defined to DFSMShsm.
  2. If you specify DENSITY and UNIT, the density must match the density capability of that type of unit or the command fails. If you specify a density of 2, 3, or 4 for the 3480 Magnetic Tape Subsystem, DFSMShsm ignores it.