HP LTO Ultrium 4 drives technical reference manual, volume 2: software integration 23
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TapeAlert flags:
• 3Bh (WORM medium—integrity check failed)
• 3Ch (WORM medium—overwrite attempted)
Error Usage page
For WORM cartridges, the Wrap Number fields in the Error Usage page are replaced by an Error
Code field. This contains the ASC/Q value reported to the host when the associated error was
detected.
Only appended writes accepted
If a WORM cartridge is placed in a WORM-compatible drive, the drive will accept write commands
(records, filemarks) only if the current logical position is beyond the position identified by the EOPD
value. If a write command is received by the drive when the logical position is before the EOPD
value, the command will be rejected and
CHECK CONDITION returned with sense key of Data
Protect and additional sense of 300Ch (WORM medium—overwrite attempted). The TapeAlert
flags 3Ch (WORM medium—overwrite attempted) and 09h (write-protect) are set.
ERASE commands rejected
ERASE commands (short or long) to a drive containing a WORM cartridge will not overwrite or
erase user data on tape. Any
ERASE command that would result in user data being over-written on
tape is rejected and
CHECK CONDITION returned with sense key of Data Protect and additional
sense of 300Ch (WORM medium - overwrite attempted). The TapeAlert flags 3Ch (WORM
medium—overwrite attempted) and 09h (write-protect) are set.
SET CAPACITY command
The SET CAPACITY command will only be accepted and executed if the WORM cartridge has not
been initialized, that is, it has never been written to.
If a
SET CAPACITY command is received by the drive when the cartridge has been initialized, it is
rejected and
CHECK CONDITION returned with sense key of Data Protect and additional sense of
300Ch (WORM medium—overwrite attempted). The TapeAlert flags 3Ch (WORM
medium—overwrite attempted) and 09h (write-protect) are set.
Re-writing media labels
If there is no user data on the tape, the media label can be rewritten. The label contains software
application-related information such as a unique identification code and does not contain user
data.
Writing is allowed when the current logical position is at BOT and:
• there are only filemarks between this position and EOD, or
• there are only 1 or 2 sequential records followed by any number of filemarks, but no further
records, between this position and EOD.
Allow overwrite of last filemarks before the EOD data set
At the end of a backup or archive session, many software applications write two filemarks to tape
immediately before the EOD data set is written. These filemarks are logical markers that enable the
