Spectra T50e - Cartridge Guidelines and Requirements

Chapter 7—Using Cartridges in the Library Preparing Cartridges for Use
August 2017 User Guide—Spectra T50e Library
195
Cartridge Guidelines and Requirements
Whenpreparingcartridgesforuse,keepthefollowingguidelinesand
requirementsinmind:
Spectra Certified Media Forbestperformance,useSpectraCertified
Media(bothdataandcleaningcartridges).Spectracertificationguarantees
bothmediacompatibilityandthecartridgeitselfoveritslifetime.Using
SpectraCertifiedMediaalsoletsyoutakefulladvantageofthelibrary’s
MediaLifecycleManagement(MLM)features.SeeChapter8–
ConfiguringandUsingMediaLifecycleManagement,beginningon
page226fordetailedinformationaboutusingMLMtomonitorthehealth
ofdataandcleaningcartridges.
Multiple Tape Technology Generations Whenusingmultipletape
technologygenerations,SpectraLogicstronglyrecommendsconfiguring
separatepartitionsforeachgeneration.Itisespeciallyimportanttokeep
LTO‐4drivesanddatacartridgesseparatedfromLTO‐5andlater
generationdrivesanddatacartridges.Thisensurestheaccuracyofthe
LTO‐4mediahealthdata(seeMLMHealthReportsonpage229formore
information).
Barcode Labels Toensurethatthelibrarycanproperlymaintainitsmedia
inventory,makesurethatallcartridgeshaveuniquebarcodelabels.For
yourconvenience,allSpectraCertifiedMediaisavailablepre‐labeledwith
sequentialbarcodelabels.Optionalcustombarcodesequencescanbe
ordered,ifdesired.SeeMediaandAccessoriesonpage486forinformation
aboutpurchasingbarcodelabels.
 Datacartridges—Thelibraryautomaticallynotifiesyouwheneveryou
attempttoimportunlabeledcartridgesorcartridgeswhoselabels
indicatethattheLTOgenerationisnotsupportedbythepartition.
 Cleaningcartridges—Ifyouplantouseacleaningpartitionandthe
AutoDriveCleanfeature,thecleaningcartridgesmustbeidentified
with“CLN”atthebeginningofthebarcodesequenceontheirlabels.
Thisrequirementappliestobothstandardandcustombarcodelabels.
Thelibrarydoesnotimportcartridgesintoacleaningpartitionifthey
notidentifiedwith“CLN”atthebeginningofthebarcodesequenceon
theirlabels.
Ifyouplantostorecleaningcartridgesinastoragepartition,labelthe
cartridgesasrequiredbyyourstoragemanagementsoftwaretoprevent
thesoftwarefromattemptingtoreaddatafromorwritedatatoa
cleaningcartridge.
Write Protection Beforeloadingdatacartridgesintothe library,makesure
thatthewrite‐protectswitchisproperlyset.Fornormalbackupoperations,
thewrite‐protectswitchissettothewrite‐enabledorunlockedposition.
Thewrite‐protectswitchistypicallysettothewrite‐protectorlocked
positionwhenthecartridge
isremovedfromthelibraryforstorageand
duringdatarestoreoperations.