SDLT serial numbers

(Last modified: 20230725.1552: )

I have a number of (Super Digital Linear Tape) SDLT I (SDLT320) and SDLT II (SDLT600) media and I wanted to identify them with their serial numbers (SN). However, I wasn't able to find any documentation anywhere that described the location and type of SN for these cartridges. I am guessing that at least one of the four numbers stamped on the back are SNs, but of these, I don't know which ones are SNs and which ones are manufacturing codes.

These numbers are arranged thusly:

The two lines are stamped approximately one half of the way between the outside ege of the cartridge and the hub, on the bottom side of the cartridge, and "up" is toward the outside edge.

In my small data set of media, I noticed the following characteristics:

• A appears to be numeric and is 6 digits
• B appears to be numeric and is 3 digits
• C appears to be alpha-numeric and is 10 digits
• D appears to be numeric and is 2 digits

There isn't any machine readable way of getting this information, as far as I know.

I have observed that "C" has been dulpicated once, so I've been using all four numbers, concatenated together, to serve as the serial number; thus, the above example becomes:

218900103SH347M009826