The scenario describes a Cohesity environment archiving to a tape library, which is managed by third-party software. In these systems, tapes are organized into volume pools. Status code 96 indicates no media is available. Although the backup images written by Cohesity have expired, the tape will not return to the general-purpose scratch pool if its current volume pool is configured to retain its media. This is a common configuration in the external tape management software to dedicate tapes to specific backup types, but it prevents them from being reused generally, leading to media shortages.

B. The media is in an off-site location.

A tape's physical location does not prevent its logical return to the scratch pool within the media management database once its data has expired.

C. The media was written with multiplexed images.

The question states all images have expired. This fulfills the requirement for a multiplexed tape to become eligible for the scratch pool, so multiplexing is not the blocker.

D. The media is in a Suspended state.

A suspended state prevents the backup images on the media from being expired. This directly contradicts the premise of the question that the images have already expired.

1. Cohesity Documentation - Archive to Tape: The official Cohesity documentation specifies that for physical tape archiving

the Cohesity cluster presents a View as a NAS share to a third-party backup server. This external server and its software are responsible for all tape library and media management

including the administration of volume pools and scratch media. The issue described originates in the configuration of this external system. (Reference: Cohesity TechDocs

"Archive to Tape" section).

2. General Principles of Tape Media Management: In hierarchical storage management systems that integrate with Cohesity for tape-out

volume pools are a standard construct. The behavior of media upon expiration (i.e.

whether it returns to a global scratch pool or remains within its assigned pool) is a fundamental configuration parameter of the pool itself. An incorrect setting is a direct cause for media unavailability. (Reference: This is a standard operational principle covered in data protection and storage administration curricula that deal with tape libraries

such as those Cohesity integrates with).