Patent ID: 7308529

Claim:
A method of processing a request requiring that a first volume of removable storage media be mounted on a storage device, comprising: determining whether the storage device is available; in the event it is determined that the storage device is not available because it currently has mounted on it a second volume of removable storage media associated with a data mover: determining whether the data mover should be asked to permit the second volume to be removed from the storage device so that the first volume can be mounted thereon; and prompting the data mover, in the event it is determined that the data mover should be asked to permit the second volume to be removed from the storage device so that the first volume can be mounted thereon, to provide an indication that the second volume may be dismounted from the storage device; wherein in the event it is determined that the data mover should be asked to permit the second volume to be removed, further including selecting as the storage device a compatible storage device that best satisfies preemption criteria; and a storage device servicing a lower priority request better satisfies the preemption criteria than a storage device servicing a higher priority request.