A multivolume management method, executed by a computer, includes storing a dataset over a plurality of media storage devices, wherein the plurality of media storage devices has a corresponding plurality of physical identifiers, generating a conversion table that assigns the plurality of physical identifiers to a corresponding plurality of sequentially ordered virtual identifiers, wherein each physical identifier is uniquely assigned to one virtual identifier, receiving a request for the dataset, wherein the request references the plurality of sequentially ordered virtual identifiers, in response to receiving the request, generating a response comprising an ordered list of physical identifiers using the conversion table, and responding to the request with the response. A computer system and computer program product corresponding to the above method are also disclosed herein.

Embodiments of the present invention provide methods, systems, and computer program products for responding to recall operations based on a file migration time. In one embodiment, it is determined whether the number of recall requests (R) is equal to the number of storage drives in an idle state, and if the number of recall requests (R) is equal to the number of storage drives in an idle state, the storage drive(s) that are in the idle state are assigned as having the shortest time to complete a requested recall operation. The time to complete the requested recall operation (M) of the identified idle state storage drive(s) is set to zero.

A storage control apparatus includes a processor. The processor is configured to store, during a normal operation mode, first data as a first logical volume in a storage section of a first virtual storage device. The first data is transmitted and received between a first host device and a physical storage device. The physical storage device stores data in a physical volume. The first virtual storage device is connected to the physical storage device during the normal operation mode. The processor is configured to serve, during a data migration mode, as a pseudo host device connected to a second virtual storage device. The pseudo host device accesses the second virtual storage device to read out second data of a second logical volume stored in the second virtual storage device. The first virtual storage device is connected to the second virtual storage device during the data migration mode.

An electronic apparatus and a hot-swappable storage device thereof are provided. The hot-swappable storage device includes a carrier, a connector, a controller, and a wireless communication interface. The carrier is configured to carry a plurality of storage components. The connector is configured to be electronically connected to a host end for performing a data transfer operation. The controller detects a connection status between the connector and the host end. The wireless communication interface decides whether to perform the data transfer operation according to the connection status.

Accessing additional storage space of a storage system includes reading a physical data fragment that is an incremental subset of a physical storage unit of the storage system, accessing metadata corresponding to logical blocks stored on the physical data fragment to determine a sidebar storage portion of the physical data fragment that is unused by the logical blocks, and accessing data of the sidebar storage portion. Accessing data of the sidebar storage portion may include providing data from the sidebar storage portion to a calling process. Accessing data of the sidebar storage portion may include modifying a portion of data from the physical data fragment and writing the physical data fragment back to the physical storage device. The physical data fragment may be locked prior to reading the physical data fragment and the physical data fragment may be unlocked after writing the physical data fragment.

In one embodiment, a storage system configured for reading a file written to a plurality of tape media includes at least two tape drives and a read/write control. The read/write control is configured to load a tape medium into a tape drive, and read metadata from the loaded tape medium and determine from the metadata whether the tape medium is a parent tape medium or a child tape medium for the file. The read/write control is also configured to retrieve ID information on the parent tape medium from the metadata saved in the child tape medium in response to a determination that the loaded tape medium is a child tape medium, and load the parent tape medium identified by the retrieved ID information into another tape drive. Moreover, the read/write control is configured to read a written first file part based on metadata saved in the loaded parent tape medium.

The time required for recalling the file is reduced when the file is written in a mounted plurality of tapes in comparison to recalling the file when written in a non-mounted plurality of tapes. In the non-mounted state, criteria does not typically exist in order to recall the written file within the plurality of tapes. Embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for recalling files based on criteria which considers: the mounted state of a tape; the type of tape; the type of available tape drive; the number of files included in a tape; and the location of the written file in a tape.

An information processing apparatus performs a control of recording identification information of a storage pool in at least one of a management area of a magnetic tape belonging to the storage pool or a recording medium other than a magnetic tape that is provided in a magnetic tape cartridge including the magnetic tape, the storage pool being included in a plurality of storage pools in which the same data is recorded by being multiplexed with a multiplicity of one or more, and the identification information being different for each storage pool in a pool group and being the same information between storage pools in pool groups different from each other according to a multiplexing order of the storage pool.

Writing new data to a tape volume of a tape emulation unit includes determining if the new data is an update to data that was previously written, writing the new data to a new section of the tape emulation unit in response to the new data not updating data that was previously written, deleting the data that was previously written and writing the new data to a new section in response to the new data updating data that was previously written, the new data being larger than the data that was previously written, and the underlying file system not supporting variable size records/blocks, and overwriting the data that was previously written in response to the new data updating data that was previously written and either the new data not being larger than the data that was previously written or the underlying file system supporting variable size records/blocks.

A tool for scaling media utilizing healthy regions of a data storage cartridge. The tool determines a health status index for one or more regions of a data storage cartridge. The tool records the health status index to a cartridge memory and housekeeping dataset of the data storage cartridge. The tool determines one or more available regions of the data storage cartridge, based, at least in part, on a capacity designation and the health status index for the one or more regions. The tool returns the one or more available regions and a reduced capacity for the data storage cartridge to a user.