Tape label
Encyclopedia
Tape labels are identifiers given to volumes of magnetic tape
.
There are two kinds of tape labels. The first is a label applied to the exterior of tape cartridge or reel. The second is data recorded on the tape itself.
The labels have evolved to have barcode
s that can be read by tape libraries
. Reading the barcode label is often much faster than mounting the tape volume and reading the identification information written on the media. To read the bar code, the tape library need only position the volume in front of the bar code reader.
only had human readable labels on them (i.e. unlabeled tape). Somebody wishing to use a particular tape would ask the operator to mount that tape. The operator would look at the human readable label, mount it on a tape drive, and then tell the operating system which tape it was. That had some drawbacks. The operator might mount the wrong tape by mistake, or he might type in the wrong identification.
A solution was to record some tape identification information on the tape itself in a recognizable format.
A benefit was the operating system could quickly recognize a volume and assign it to the program that wanted to use it. The operating system would notice that a tape drive came online, so it would try to read the first block of information on the tape. If that was a volume label, then the operating system could determine what to do with it.
character set.
Magnetic tape
Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic recording, made of a thin magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic. It was developed in Germany, based on magnetic wire recording. Devices that record and play back audio and video using magnetic tape are tape recorders and video tape recorders...
.
There are two kinds of tape labels. The first is a label applied to the exterior of tape cartridge or reel. The second is data recorded on the tape itself.
Visual labels
Visual labels are human readable.The labels have evolved to have barcode
Barcode
A barcode is an optical machine-readable representation of data, which shows data about the object to which it attaches. Originally barcodes represented data by varying the widths and spacings of parallel lines, and may be referred to as linear or 1 dimensional . Later they evolved into rectangles,...
s that can be read by tape libraries
Tape library
In computer storage, a tape library, sometimes called a tape silo, tape robot or tape jukebox, is a storage device which contains one or more tape drives, a number of slots to hold tape cartridges, a barcode reader to identify tape cartridges and an automated method for loading tapes...
. Reading the barcode label is often much faster than mounting the tape volume and reading the identification information written on the media. To read the bar code, the tape library need only position the volume in front of the bar code reader.
Magnetic labels
Originally, data tapesMagnetic tape data storage
Magnetic tape data storage uses digital recording on to magnetic tape to store digital information. Modern magnetic tape is most commonly packaged in cartridges and cassettes. The device that performs actual writing or reading of data is a tape drive...
only had human readable labels on them (i.e. unlabeled tape). Somebody wishing to use a particular tape would ask the operator to mount that tape. The operator would look at the human readable label, mount it on a tape drive, and then tell the operating system which tape it was. That had some drawbacks. The operator might mount the wrong tape by mistake, or he might type in the wrong identification.
A solution was to record some tape identification information on the tape itself in a recognizable format.
A benefit was the operating system could quickly recognize a volume and assign it to the program that wanted to use it. The operating system would notice that a tape drive came online, so it would try to read the first block of information on the tape. If that was a volume label, then the operating system could determine what to do with it.
ANSI tape labels
ANSI/ISO/ECMA tape labels are similar to IBM tape labels but use the ASCIIASCII
The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text...
character set.
External links
- ECMA-13, File Structure and Labelling of Magnetic Tapes for Information Interchange, 4th ed, December 1985.
- http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/iseries/v5r4/index.jsp?topic=/rzatb/vdefn.htm
- http://techpubs.sgi.com/library/tpl/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?coll=linux&db=bks&fname=/SGI_EndUser/TMF_UG/ch02.html
- https://it-dep-fio-ds.web.cern.ch/it-dep-fio-ds/Documentation/tapedrive/labels.html