3592 Model E05 tape drives emulate already-supported tape devices. To use these drives in a nonlibrary environment, you must manage mixed media and resolve drive allocation ambiguities between 3592 Model E05 drives, the actual models of drives that are being emulated, and other 3590 Model B1x emulated devices. This is because the emulated device type is recorded in the data set records of user catalogs. You must manage media and device allocation according to your installation's storage management policies. You must segregate real and emulated device types.

Before using the new 3592 Model E05, ensure that all existing 3592 Model J1A drives are upgraded to recognize and enable the EFMT2-formatted cartridges to be relabelled/reused on the 3592 Model J1A. Otherwise, job failures may occur with a drive with the incorrect microcode load being allocated.

Recommendation: Use a manual tape library, DFSMSrmm, third-party tape management software, or write your own applications when using 3592 Model E05 tape drives in a stand-alone environment.