Patent ID: 7162496

Claim:
A system for operating a storage device, the system comprising: a management server; a media agent connected to the management server; a storage device connected to the media agent; and a database connected to the management server; wherein the management server controls the media agent to monitor for the addition or removal of a piece of media in the storage device, and wherein the management server is further configured to determine if the piece of media is either bar coded or non-bar coded; and when a non-bar coded piece of media has been added to the storage device or removed from the storage device, the media agent causes the storage device to read a media label stored as data in the non-bar coded piece of media, the media label including an identifier identifying the non-bar coded piece of media, wherein the storage device returns the piece of media to a slot in the storage device, and wherein the management server stores the identifier in the database in association with an indication of the slot.