System and method for write protecting portions of magnetic tape storage media
AssigneeOracle International Corporation
InventorsDavid G. Hostetter, John Steven Herron
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A non-transitory computer readable storage medium includes a tape having a plurality of partitions configured for storing data, and a plurality of read-only partition identifiers, each read-only partition identifier associated with one of the plurality of partitions and readable by a tape drive having a processor and memory for writing and reading tape data. Each read-only partition identifier selectively designates a corresponding one of the partitions as read-only to prevent data from being written to the designated read-only partition by the tape drive.
Claims15
A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising:
- a tape partitioned into a plurality of partitions;
- the plurality of partitions, each of the plurality of partitions configured for storing data by a tape drive that has a processor and memory and is configured for writing and reading data on the tape;
- and
- a plurality of read-only partition identifiers, each of the plurality of read-only partition identifiers associated with one of the plurality of partitions and readable by the tape drive, each of the plurality of read-only partition identifiers selectively designating a corresponding partition in a subset of the plurality of partitions as a read-only partition to cause the processor of the tape drive to prevent data from being written to the selectively designated read-only partition by the tape drive;
- wherein the tape comprises a media information region (MIR) comprising the plurality of read-only partition identifiers for the plurality of partitions;
- and
- wherein the tape comprises a bit mask representing the plurality of read-only partition identifiers.
A data storage tape cartridge comprising:
- a tape partitioned into a plurality of partitions;
- the plurality of partitions, each of the plurality of partitions configured for storing data by a tape drive that has a processor and memory and is configured for writing and reading data on the tape;
- a plurality of read-only partition identifiers, each of the plurality of read-only partition identifiers associated with one of the plurality of partitions and readable by the tape drive, each of the plurality of read-only partition identifiers selectively designating a corresponding partition in a subset of the plurality of partitions as a read-only partition to cause the processor of the tape drive to prevent data from being written to the selectively designated read-only partition by the tape drive;
- and
- an electronic data storage device configured for non-volatile storage of information independent of the tape, the electronic storage device readable by the tape drive and storing the plurality of read-only partition identifiers, wherein the electronic storage device comprises an RFID chip and a bit mask representing the plurality of read-only partition identifiers.
A method of using a data storage tape with a tape drive having a processor and memory, the tape drive being configured for writing and reading data on the tape, the method comprising:
- partitioning the tape into a plurality of partitions, each of the plurality of partitions configured for storing data readable by a tape drive;
- writing a plurality of read-only partition identifiers, each of the plurality of read-only partition identifiers associated with one of the plurality of partitions and readable by the tape drive, each of the plurality of read-only partition identifiers selectively designating a corresponding partition in a subset of the plurality of partitions as a read-only partition to cause the processor of the tape drive to prevent data from being written to the selectively designated read-only partition by the tape drive;
- wherein writing the plurality of read-only partition identifiers comprises:
- writing the plurality of read-only partition identifiers to a media information region (MIR) of the tape;
- and
- writing each of the plurality of read-only partition identifiers within a bit mask stored on the tape, the bit mask representing the plurality of read-only partition identifiers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.