In a 3494 automated or manual tape library, and in a standalone environment, the new 3592 Model E05 tape drive is supported only in 3590-1 emulation mode. The 3592 Model E05 introduces a new enterprise format 2 (EFMT2) recording technology. This recording technology is a higher density format that nearly doubles the capacity of the existing EFMT1 3592 Model J1A. The 3592 Model E05 is downward read compatible with existing EFMT1 formatted media, and optionally can be explicitly directed to write from BOT in EFMT1 recording format. The drive appends away from load point using the volume's existing recording format (EFMT1 or EFMT2).