On Tue, Oct 02, 2007 at 11:31:41AM -0400, Goslin, Paul wrote:
>  I wasn't aware that LTO media contained a chip.... What is its purpose
> / function and how is it read (by a sensor in the drive) ?

I don't know many of the details.  Per an IBM web page:

  Advanced LTO-CM chip
  IBM TotalStorage LTO Ultrium 200 GB Data Cartridges, along with IBM
  Ultrium 2 drives, support the Linear Tape-Open Cartridge Memory
  (LTO-CM) chip, which enables the IBM Ultrium 2 tape drive to read and
  write to the data cartridge by using a radio frequency
  transmission. The LTO-CM enables fast, simultaneous transfer of
  cartridge dependent data with IBM Ultrium 2 tape drives during media
  load and unload cycles. This simultaneous exchange is designed to
  improve data access speeds by eliminating the need to read/write
  cartridge-dependent data from the media after it is loaded or before
  it is unloaded.

Clear as a bell, right?

These folks manufacture a standalone reader for the chip.  It appears to
mainly hold access statistics (error rates and such) and some physical
properties (age, type, manufacturer).

http://www.mptapes.com/veritape_info.html

I'm pretty sure the cleaning tapes have one as well and they store the
number of uses.

> Quite true.  The reason LTO media is not able to be degaussed is the
> computer chip that is in the cartridge gets degaussed as well.  I
> haven't played with LTO media long enough yet to see if anyone knows how
> to restore that chip's information after it has been destroyed by
> degaussing.

I was not aware the chip was the problem, but thought it was the
pre-formatted tracks on the media itself.  (Of course both of them could
be affected).

-- 
Darren Dunham                                           ddunham AT taos DOT com
Senior Technical Consultant         TAOS            http://www.taos.com/
Got some Dr Pepper?                           San Francisco, CA bay area
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