Patent ID: 7483236

Claim:
A method of providing a media cartridge to a data storage and retrieval system, comprising: inserting at least one media cartridge into a first opening of a cartridge storage device, wherein access to said first opening is provided by an opening in the data storage and retrieval system, the first opening being accessible when the cartridge storage device is fully inserted in the data storage and retrieval system; removing said at least one media cartridge from said cartridge storage device from a second opening thereof, wherein said second opening is on an opposite side of the cartridge storage device than the first opening, the at least one cartridge being movable along a path of movement between the first and second openings, wherein the openings respectively lie on lines tangent to the path of movement of the at least one cartridge through the cartridge storage device and generally parallel to a portion of the path of movement of the at least one cartridge through the cartridge storage device; and inserting said at least one media cartridge into a tape drive of said data storage and retrieval system.