Patent ID: 7774566

Claim:
A server, comprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructions operable with the processor, the instructions executed for: partitioning a virtual tape volume into a plurality of virtual tape blocks, wherein the virtual tape volume includes a virtual tape volume header having recovery information; wherein each virtual tape block includes a virtual tape block header identifying the virtual tape volume and a block sequence number, wherein at least one of the virtual tape blocks includes the virtual tape volume header; and formatting a physical tape volume by including at least each virtual tape block of the plurality of virtual tape blocks within the physical tape volume, wherein by including each virtual tape block within the physical tape volume the recovery information is stored in the physical tape volume; and in response to re-inserting a selected volume, if an insertion timestamp of a re-inserted version of the selected volume is more current than a rejected timestamp of a rejected version of the selected volume, determining from the recovery information that the re-inserted version of the selected volume has a higher data level than the rejected version of the selected volume.