First you need to make sure that there are no valid images on the tape that you want.
NetBackup\bin\admincmd\bpimmedia -mediaid <TapeNumber> -L
If there are no images that you need, expire the tape:
NetBackup\bin\admincmd\bpexpdate -m <TapeNumber> -d 0 -host <MediaServer> -force
This expires the images in the media database which resides specifically on the media server.
Verify that the images have been expired by re-running:
NetBackup\bin\admincmd\bpimmedia -mediaid <TapeNumber> -L
Now make sure that the tape is deleted from the volume manager on the master server. This step is automatically run by Veritas twice a day, and if you have used bpexpdate the tape will be removed but you can force it to take effect immediately:
volmgr\bin\vmquery -m <TapeNumber>
This gets some information on the tape such as its assigned date, pool number and status. If the status is anything other that 0×0, that issue needs to be resolved first – The most likely issue is a Frozen tape – IT must be unfrozen before you deassign it.
To unfreeze a tape:
NetBackup\bin\admincmd\bpmedia -unfreeze -m <TapeNumber> -h <MediaServer>
If the tape was suspended you can replace -unfreeze with -unsuspend
If you are unsure which media server the tape belongs to:
NetBackup\bin\admincmd\bpimmedia -L -mediaid <TapeNumber>
This step will deassign and remove the volume images.
Volmgr\bin\vmquery -deassignbyid <TapeNumber> <Pool> <Status>
Finally delete the tape:
volmgr/bin/vmdelete -m <media-id>