Patent ID: 8756687

Claim:
A system for providing a self-describing tape with tamper protection, the system comprising: an archive node appliance coupled to a media library and a set of hosts, the archive node appliance comprising a processor, a non-transitory computer readable memory and a set of computer instructions executable by the processor to cause the archive node appliance to: load a tape cartridge in the media library, the tape cartridge containing a tape, the tape storing a file and a set of file system metadata, wherein the set of file system metadata is of a first type of file system, wherein the file and the set of file system metadata are stored on the tape according to a second type of file system, and wherein the set of file system metadata contains information describing the file that is necessary for the archive node appliance or another archive node appliance to present at least a portion of the file from the tape to a local operating system according to a first file system of the first type of file system; read a first index generation value from a memory of the tape cartridge containing the tape, the first index generation value stored in the memory of the tape cartridge by the archive node appliance or another archive node appliance; read a second index generation value from the tape, the second index generation value stored on the tape by a second file system of the second type of file system; and determine, based at least in part upon the first index generation value and the second index generation value, whether the tape has been altered.