Windows 2003 Tape Marked as Write Protected When it isn't

  • Thread starter Thread starter Charlie
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Charlie

I have a Quantum Superloader 3 LTO2 tape library running on a Dell PE 2800
with Windows 2003 R2, SP2. In Removable Storage, my LTO tape shows up as
write protected when I try to move it into the Free Media Pool. The tape
doesn't have the write protection tab engaged and I have never even used the
tape before. I am not sure this is really a Windows problem, but does anyone
have an idea what I can do about it?

Thanks.
 
I should also mention that the in the Properties box for the tape, the Type
shows as Unknown (Read Only).

"Charlie" wrote:

> I have a Quantum Superloader 3 LTO2 tape library running on a Dell PE 2800
> with Windows 2003 R2, SP2. In Removable Storage, my LTO tape shows up as
> write protected when I try to move it into the Free Media Pool. The tape
> doesn't have the write protection tab engaged and I have never even used the
> tape before. I am not sure this is really a Windows problem, but does anyone
> have an idea what I can do about it?
>
> Thanks.
 
OK, if anyone figured this out, you are a genius......

I had placed barcodes labels on the tapes. I noticed that they all began
with the letters "cln". It seemed that would suggest barcodes for cleaning
tapes, but I thought they were the labels that came with the tapes and so
would be legit for backup tapes. I just ignored it, thinking that it would
have no impact even if they were for marking cleaning tapes (they are only
labels after all).

I noticed in the Properties for the tape drive itself in Remote Storage that
there is a check box that says "Recognize cleaner cartridge barcodes". I was
suprised something like that would exist, but I unchecked it and sure enough
the tapes were no longer maked as write protected. (I later relabeled the
tapes with legitimate barcode labels and checked the box again, which of
course had the same affect.)

I hope nobody wasted any time on this.



"Charlie" wrote:

> I have a Quantum Superloader 3 LTO2 tape library running on a Dell PE 2800
> with Windows 2003 R2, SP2. In Removable Storage, my LTO tape shows up as
> write protected when I try to move it into the Free Media Pool. The tape
> doesn't have the write protection tab engaged and I have never even used the
> tape before. I am not sure this is really a Windows problem, but does anyone
> have an idea what I can do about it?
>
> Thanks.
 
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