Mixed Media Management; Table 1-2 Cartridge Read/Write Compatibility - Oracle StorageTek T9840 User Manual

Mixed Media Management

TABLE 1-2 Cartridge Read/Write Compatibility

Compatibility
Read a cartridge formatted by:
Write or append data to a cartridge
formatted by:
Mixed Media Management
Because T9840A, T9840B, T9840C, and T9840D drives use the same 9840 standard
data cartridge, you should take extra media management measures when:
• T9840C drives coexist in the same library system with T9840A/B drives.
• T9840D drives coexist in the same library system with T9840A/B/C drives.
The extra measures essentially involve creation and management of separate media
pools/sub-pools for:
• T9840A/B formatted/written data cartridges
• T9840C formatted/written data cartridges
• T9840D formatted/written data cartridges
Guidelines for creation and maintenance of media pools/sub-pools are located in
ACSLS, HSC, and independent software vender (ISV) documentation sets.
T9840A/B tape drives cannot read from a data cartridge written by either T9840C or
T9840D tape drives because of the higher-density formats, and must have an
appropriate drive firmware level to even identify the higher-density data cartridges:
• T9840A:
• R1.33.103, or higher, to identify a T9840C written cartridge
• R1.41.105, or higher, to identify a T9840D written cartridge
• T9840B:
• R1.33.303, or higher, to identify a T9840C written cartridge
• R1.41.305, or higher, to identify a T9840D written cartridge
• T9840C - R1.41.505, or higher, to identify a T9840D written cartridge
Without the appropriate drive firmware level, a T9840A/B drive would consider a
higher-density formatted cartridge blank and available for scratch. T9840A/B drive
attempts to read the data from an identified higher-density data cartridge will fail.
The T9840C or T9840D tape drive can read data from a tape cartridge written by a
T9840A/B tape drive in the low-density format, but does not append data to that
cartridge. An attempt to append a low-density data cartridge on a T9840C or T9840D
drive will fail, and sense byte data indicates an error (similar to that of a file-
protected data cartridge).
24 T9840 URM
T9840A T9840B
T9840A and T9840A and
T9840B T9840B
T9840A and T9840A and
T9840B T9840B
Drive Model
T9840C
T9840A, T9840A, T9840B,
T9840B, and T9840C, and
T9840C T9840D
T9840C T9840D
T9840D
December 2012