Patent ID: 7484040
Filing Date: 2009-01-27
Classification: G06F,G11B

Abstract:
1. A method for managing a removable media system by a media management system, the method comprising: determining a readiness of a tape drive in the removable media system; initiating at least one error recovery technique based on the determined readiness; wherein initiating the at least one error recovery technique includes disabling the tape drive based on the determined readiness, implementing the error recovery technique based on the disabling, and enabling the tape drive based on the implementing; determining a tape degradation status of a tape cartridge; initiating at least one error recovery technique based on the determined tape degradation; wherein initiating the at least one error recovery technique includes copying data from the degraded tape cartridge, erasing the degraded tape cartridge, and ejecting the erased degraded tape cartridge; determining a number of scratch tape cartridges; comparing the determined number of scratch tape cartridges to a threshold; performing at least one administrative task based on the comparison of the determined number of scratch tape cartridges to a threshold; obtaining tape drive mount statistics associated with a dismounted tape drive; comparing the obtained tape drive mount statistics with a cleaning threshold; mounting a cleaning cartridge based on the comparison between the obtained tape drive mount statistics and cleaning threshold; cleaning the dismounted tape drive based on the mounting of the cleaning cartridge; resetting a clean mount counter based on the cleaning of the dismounted tape drive; comparing the obtained tape drive mount statistics with a maintenance threshold; disabling the dismounted tape drive and performing administrative tasks based on the disabling based on the comparison of the obtained tape drive mount statistics with the maintenance threshold; adjusting a priority of the dismounted tape drive based on a difference between a maximum priority of a tape drive and the product of the maximum priority of a tape drive and a ratio of the number of mounts of the dismounted tape drive to a maximum number of mounts of a tape drive based on the comparison of the obtained tape drive mount statistics with the maintenance threshold; obtaining tape drive error statistics; comparing the obtained tape drive error statistics with an error threshold; disabling the dismounted tape drive based on the comparison of the obtained tape drive error statistics with the error threshold; adjusting a priority of the dismounted tape drive based on a difference between a maximum priority of a tape drive and the product of the maximum priority of a tape drive and a ratio of the number of errors of the dismounted tape drive to a maximum number of errors of a tape drive based on the comparison of the obtained tape drive error statistics with the error threshold; obtaining tape drive access routes of a tape drive; determining whether all tape drive access routes are visible; notifying the media management system of any invisible tape drive access routes based on the determination of whether all tape drive access routes are visible; and notifying the media management system of any alternate routes.