System, Method and Computer Program Product for Synchronizing Data Written to Tape Including Writing an Index Into a Data Partition

A method for writing data to tape, comprising:

• when a tape is mounted on a tape drive, writing an index from an index partition of the tape into a memory of an archive node appliance connected to the tape drive such that the memory stores an in-memory version of the index;
• after a predetermined amount of time has passed, after a predetermined condition has been met, or after a predetermined amount of data has been written to the tape, the archive node appliance performing a synchronization operation to write the in-memory version of the index to a data partition of the tape such that the data partition of the tape stores a copy of the in-memory version of the index;
• when the tape is to be unmounted, the archive node appliance performing an unmount operation to write the in-memory version of the index from the memory into the index partition of the tape;
• when the tape is to be mounted again, the archive node appliance comparing an index written to the index partition of the tape and to the data partition of the tape;
• and
• if the indexes do not match, the archive node appliance automatically performing a recovery operation to update the index partition of the tape with the copy of the in-memory version of the index from the data partition of the tape.

A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions translatable by at least one processor to:

• when a tape is mounted on a tape drive, write an index from an index partition of the tape into a memory of an archive node appliance connected to the tape drive such that the memory stores an in-memory version of the index;
• after a predetermined amount of time has passed, after a predetermined condition has been met, or after a predetermined amount of data has been written to the tape, perform a synchronization operation to write the in-memory version of the index to a data partition of the tape such that the data partition of the tape stores a copy of the in-memory version of the index;
• when the tape is to be unmounted, perform an unmount operation to write the in-memory version of the index from the memory into the index partition of the tape;
• when the tape is to be mounted again, compare an index written to the index partition of the tape and to the data partition of the tape;
• and
• if the indexes do not match, automatically perform a recovery operation to update the index partition of the tape with the copy of the in-memory version of the index from the data partition of the tape.