Patent ID: 8593918

Claim:
A method of maintaining tape emulation consistency, comprising: writing additional tape data to a first local storage device at a local site; writing tape emulation data to a second local storage device at the local site, wherein the second local storage device is different from the first local storage device; and maintaining consistency of the first and second local storage devices in connection with transferring data to a remote site, wherein maintaining consistency includes initiating a cycle switch that causes a concurrent cycle change from a first cycle to a second cycle for the first and second local storage devices, wherein additional tape data and tape emulation data written before a first time is associated with a first cycle and wherein additional tape data and tape emulation data written after the first time and before a second time is associated with a second cycle different from the first cycle, and, after completion of the cycle switch, the first and second local storage devices initiating transfer of the additional tape data and tape emulation data associated with the first cycle to corresponding remote storage devices at the remote site.