Patent ID: 6952753

Claim:
A computer system, comprising: a tape device comprising one or more tape drives; and a host computer system coupled to the tape device, wherein the host computer system is configured to provide commands to the tape device and to initiate a timeout period for each command provided to the tape device; wherein the host computer system is configured to initiate a first timeout period if a first type of command is provided to the tape device, to initiate a second timeout period if a second type of command is provided to the tape device, and to initiate a third timeout period if a third type of command is provided to the tape device, wherein the first timeout period, the second timeout period, and the third timeout period each have a different duration; wherein each timeout period of the first, second and third timeout periods is derived from a the corresponding timeout value and a multiplier if an attribute value matches a particular setting; and wherein the first command type, the second command type and the third command type each have a different multiplier value.