System and method for write protecting portions of magnetic tape storage media

A method for reading and writing data on a storage medium, the method comprising:

• partitioning a storage medium into a plurality of partitions, each of the plurality of partitions configured for storing data readable by a drive processor;
• writing, by the drive processor, data to a first partition of the plurality of partitions in the storage medium, the first partition being associated with a respective read-only partition identifier with a value indicating that the first partition is designated as a read-write partition;
• detecting, by the drive processor, a predetermined unacceptable number of errors during reading and/or writing to the first partition;
• responsive to detecting the unacceptable number of errors during reading and/or writing to the first partition and determining that the first partition is designated as a read-write partition:
• modifying the value of the respective read-only partition identifier to an updated value that designates the first partition as a read-only partition;
• preventing writing data to the first partition subsequent to modifying the value of the respective read-only partition identifier associated with the first partition to designate the first partition as a read-only partition;
• reading data from the first partition subsequent to modifying the value of the respective read-only partition identifier associated with the first partition to designate the first partition as a read-only partition;
• receiving a request to write second data to a second partition of the plurality of partitions in the storage medium;
• accessing a second read-only partition identifier associated with the second partition;
• determining whether the second read-only partition identifier associated with the second partition designates the second partition as a read-only partition;
• responsive to determining that the second partition is designated as a read-only partition:
• preventing writing the second data to the second partition;
• and
• writing the second data to a third partition of the plurality of partitions in the storage medium that is logically adjacent to the second partition and designated as a read-write partition by a value of an associated read-only partition identifier;
• storing information to identify a host computer, a host application, and/or a drive associated with each read-only partition identifier designating the respective partition of the storage medium as a read-only partition, wherein the stored information to identify the host computer, the host application, and/or the drive associated with each read-only partition identifier designating the respective partition of the storage medium as a read-only partition identifies the host computer, host application, and/or drive that designated the respective partition as a read-only partition;
• preventing any host computer, host application, or drive other than the host computer, host application, or drive that designated a particular partition of the storage medium as a read-only partition from modifying a value of the read-only partition identifier associated with the particular partition;
• storing a permission level associated with each partition of the storage medium associated with a read-only partition identifier designating the respective partition as a read-only partition that specifies that only a host computer, a host application, or a drive having at least the stored permission level may modify a value of the read-only partition identifier associated with the respective partition;
• preventing any host computer, host application, or drive not having at least the stored permission level associated with a particular partition of the storage medium associated with a read-only partition identifier designating the particular partition as a read-only partition from modifying a value of the read-only partition identifier associated with the particular partition;
• wherein the read-only partition identifier is one of a plurality of read-only partition identifiers stored in at least one of:
• a media information region (MIR) of the storage medium;
• a non-data region of the storage medium;
• a respective associated partition of the storage medium;
• an electronic storage device associated with a cartridge that houses the storage medium, the electronic storage device being independent of the storage medium and also readable by the drive processor;
• or
• an electronic memory coupled with the drive processor that reads and writes data on the storage medium, the electronic memory being independent of the storage medium and not housed with the storage medium;
• and
• wherein the read-only partition identifier is one of a plurality of read-only partition identifiers represented using a bit mask.