Patent ID: 8880213

Claim:
A method to enhance the services provided by a data storage services provider to a data storage customer, comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of data storage media; providing an automated data library comprising one or more data storage devices, a first plurality of storage cells, and a robotic accessor which can bidirectionally transport each of said plurality of data storage media between said first plurality of storage cells and said one or more data storage devices, wherein each of said plurality of data storage media are disposed within a different portable housing, and wherein each such housing further comprises an RFID tag encoded with a VOLSER associated with a data storage medium disposed within that housing; providing a storage vault comprising a second plurality of storage cells, wherein said vault does not comprise any data storage devices; a vault controller comprising an RFID reader, wherein said vault controller is disposed within said vault, wherein said RFID reader can determine the VOLSERs for each data storage medium disposed within said vault; receiving data from said customer; writing said customer data to (N) data storage media, wherein said plurality of data storage media comprises said (N) data storage media; receiving a storage policy from said customer; selecting the (i)th data storage medium, wherein said (i)th data storage medium comprises one of said (N) data storage media; based upon said storage policy, setting the (i)th data state, wherein said (i)th data state is selected from the group consisting of online, offline, and vault; operative if said (i)th data state is set to online, removeably disposing said (i)th data storage medium in one of said one or more data storage devices; operative if said (i)th data state is set to offline, removeably disposing said (i)th data storage medium in one of said first plurality of storage cells; and operative if said (i)th data state is set to vault, removeably disposing said (i)th data storage medium in one of said second plurality of storage cells.