Hello,
Manual recycle and expiration date are two differnt attributes. Manual recycle will keep a tape from being automatically overwritten till you recycle it. Setting an expiration on a tape is typically used to see "the lifetime" of a tape. Legato sets a default of two years when it first lables a tape. Dlt's that are used heavily (writtern read, erased, written eread erased...)start to fault out around the 2.5 year mark...What exactly are you trying to accomplish?