Formatting a medium in the library

How to format a medium in the library for IBM Spectrum Archive™ Library Edition.

Note: See Optional mkltfs parameters for more options.

Specifying the -f option with the ltfsadmintool command formats a cartridge for use.

The tape volume serial number (VOLSER) is set as a parameter of the -t option as shown in the following set of examples. Optional mkltfs parameters can be passed along using this option. In the second example, the -- tag after the -f option initiates setting a parameter for mkltfs.

$ ltfsadmintool -t AA0031 -f

The -n ABC option can then be passed to mkltfs as in the following example.

$ ltfsadmintool -t AA0031 -f -- -n ABC

When the mkltfs command is issued to format the medium, the medium folder for the cartridge is removed from the Spectrum Archive Library Edition file system. When the format operation is complete, the cartridge is attached to the file system and a subdirectory displays with the VOLSER as the directory name. The name that is read from the bar code that is attached on the back of the tape cartridge is used to set the VOLSER name in the VOL1 label.

Multiple cartridges can be formatted by specifying VOLSERs following the -t option. The following example shows three cartridges that are formatted sequentially or simultaneously:

$ ltfsadmintool -t AA0031,AA0032,AA0033 -f

If a number of drives are available, Spectrum Archive Library Edition randomly uses one to format a medium. Spectrum Archive Library Edition can use a single drive to sequentially format multiple cartridges or multiple drives to simultaneously format multiple cartridges. Spectrum Archive Library Edition formats only one tape at a time by using one drive at a time per ltfsadmintool command. However, it is possible to use multiple drives to format multiple cartridges at one time by issuing more than one ltfsadmintool command.

Note: The formatting operation can fail if the medium is already formatted for LTFS. When formatting is requested, LTFS attempts to mount the target medium to obtain the medium condition. The medium is formatted if the mount command finds any of the following conditions:

The medium is not partitioned for LTFS.
The medium has an invalid label.
Labels in both partitions do not have the same value.
The medium is not yet formatted for LTFS.

If none of these conditions are found, LTFS assumes that the medium is already formatted so it won't be formatted by default. You can specify either the -f or --force option as an optional mkltfs parameter to command Spectrum Archive Library Edition to format a medium forcibly regardless of the medium status. For more information, see Optional mkltfs parameters.