Tracking the remaining useful life of a magnetic data storage tape

摘要

A method for tracking the remaining useful life of a magnetic data storage tape. The tape is checked to determine if it is formatted so that an indication of the cumulative number of end-to-end passes performed on the tape can be maintained on the tape. The indication of the number of passes is initialized if the tape has not been previously written, and is maintained to reflect the number of end-to-end passes that have been performed on the tape. That information is then ultimately transferred to the user in a descriptive form that indicates the amount of use incurred by the tape with respect to the recommended useful life of the tape, as recommended by the tape manufacturer in terms of the total number of end-to-end passes performed on the tape.