PRIMARY STORAGE MEDIA WITH ASSOCIATED SECONDARY STORAGE MEDIA FOR EFFICIENT DATA MANAGEMENT

• US 20110238905A1
• Filed: 03/25/2010
• Published: 09/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Richter, Rainer, Amir, Arnon, Imaino, Wayne I., Pease, David A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,275,678 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/111
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 15/6835 the cassettes being transferred to a fixed recorder or player using a moving carriage
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/41 Flat as opposed to hierarchical combination, e.g. library of tapes or discs, CD changer, or groups of record carriers that together store one title
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/655 Memory in cassette [MIC]
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/93 Longitudinal format, wherein tracks are in the direction of the tape, read with a static head, e.g. DCC
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 23/042 Auxiliary features sensing such features G11B15/06
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/002 Programmed access in sequence to a plurality of record carriers or indexed parts, e.g. tracks, thereof, e.g. for editing; transfer of record carriers from magazine G11B15/68, G11B17/10; G11B17/22

Abstract

A system according to one embodiment includes a tape cartridge, the tape cartridge comprising: a housing; a magnetic recording tape in the housing; and a non-tape nonvolatile memory coupled to the housing, the nonvolatile memory being for storing therein an index comprising file system information for a plurality of files stored on the magnetic recording tape. A method for storing data on a tape cartridge according to one embodiment includes writing a plurality of files to a magnetic recording tape of a tape cartridge; and writing an index to a non-tape nonvolatile memory of the tape cartridge, the index including information about locations of data of the plurality of files on the magnetic recording tape.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a tape cartridge, the tape cartridge comprising;

a housing;

a magnetic recording tape in the housing; and

a non-tape nonvolatile memory coupled to the housing, the nonvolatile memory being for storing therein an index comprising file system information for a plurality of files stored on the magnetic recording tape.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the index include hierarchical directories.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the nonvolatile memory is embedded inside the housing.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the nonvolatile memory is removable.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the index is stored as a mountable file system on the nonvolatile memory, the index comprising file extensions linking references to the files in the index to a physical file location on the magnetic recording tape.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the nonvolatile memory is attached to the housing without modification of the housing.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the nonvolatile memory is directly accessible by at least one of a tape drive device and a detached system, the direct access being selected from a group consisting of:

optical access, inductive access, capacitive access, other wireless access, access via a connector, access via a USB connector, access via surface contacts, and other physical access.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein power, communication and control of the nonvolatile memory are transferred wirelessly without any electric contacts between the housing and the at least one of the tape drive and the detached system.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the nonvolatile memory functions as a tape cartridge cache, wherein at least some of the data stored on the magnetic recording tape is immediately accessible using the tape cartridge cache.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the index is stored as an XML file on the nonvolatile memory.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the index comprises an extent list, wherein the extent list allows for a portion of one of the files stored on the magnetic recording tape to be updated while maintaining uncharged portions of the file on the magnetic recording tape intact.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the index is stored as at least one of a plurality of index files and a plurality of database tiles on the nonvolatile memory.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein at least some nonvolatile memory content is backed up on the magnetic recording tape.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein at least some nonvolatile memory content is encrypted.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the information about the plurality of tiles includes at least one additional file system attributes, extended attributes, file forks, alternate data streams and links of the plurality of files.

16. A method for storing data on a tape cartridge, the method comprising:

writing a plurality of files to a magnetic recording tape of a tape cartridge; and

writing an index to a non-tape nonvolatile memory of the tape cartridge, the index including information about locations of data of the plurality of files on the magnetic recording tape.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the index is written as a mountable file system on the nonvolatile memory, the index comprising file extensions linking references to the files in the index to a physical file location on the magnetic recording tape.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the nonvolatile memory functions as a tape cartridge cache, and further comprising accessing at least some of the data stored on the magnetic recording tape immediately using the tape cartridge cache.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the index is written as an XML file on the nonvolatile memory.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the index comprises an extent list, wherein the extent list allows for a portion of one of the files stored on the magnetic recording tape to be updated while maintaining uncharged portions of the file on the magnetic recording tape intact.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the index is written as at least one of a plurality of index tiles and a plurality of database files on the nonvolatile memory.

22. The method of claim 16, further comprising writing at least a portion of the content of the nonvolatile memory on the magnetic recording tape.

23. The method of claim 16, further comprising encrypting at least a portion of the index written to the nonvolatile memory.

24. A computer program product for storing data on a tape cartridge, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to write a plurality of files to a magnetic recording tape of a tape cartridge; and

computer readable program code configured to write an index to a nonvolatile memory of the tape cartridge, the index including information about locations of data of the plurality of files on the magnetic recording tape.

25. A system for storing data on a tape cartridge having a magnetic recording tape and a non-tape nonvolatile memory, the system comprising:

a head for writing a plurality of files to a magnetic recording tape of a tape cartridge;

a communication device for writing an index to a non-tape nonvolatile memory of the tape cartridge, the index including information about locations of data of the plurality of files on the magnetic recording tape; and

a controller for controlling the writing of the files and the index.