Tape Backups Database References only disappear when tape is erased

The problem I am having is when all the backups on a tape have been marked for deletion by moving to the Free tapes pool, they continue to be referenced to by managed tape vault.

Again, when the retention policy marks them for deletion and even if they have no dependencies the references persist in the managed tape vault.

The affect on the system is that the number of backups listed in the managed tape vault grows and grows to more than a thousand entries, which although most of them are marked for deletion, slows the opening of the vault window when viewed.

The only solution for this seems to be to ERASE the tape and than all the references are removed but at the cost of many lengthy tape erase operations (3+ hours each).

I cycle the tapes from an active pool to holding pool and then when all the backups on that tape are marked for deletion into the free tapes pool.

Is there a better tape rotation scheme for handling tape backups that are only retained for a couple of weeks/months.

Regards
Mike Bloore