User's Manual

HP StorageWorks File System Extender Software user guide 103
NOTE: WORM media can only be formatted once.
A medium is formatted using the following command:
If particular medium has already been used in the FSE implementation or contains certain types of data,
you must use forced formatting to format it. This is possible only with non-WORM media. The following
command initiates forced formatting for a medium:
For more information on the fsemedium command, see the FSE CLI reference.
The following table helps you determine what kind of formatting is allowed for different kind of media that
are identified by FSE.
Skipping media formatting
In certain cases, a medium only needs to be initialized in order to be used in the FSE implementation, and
the formatting step can be skipped. This can be done for the following media:
• new or already used LTO Ultrium media
These media support only one medium volume and do not need partitioning.
• other media that have been used in the FSE implementation, if the layout of medium volumes on the
medium will not change.
The layout includes the number of data volumes and the presence and position of the system volume on
the medium. For details, see ”FSE medium volumes” on page 98.
Once the medium is formatted, it becomes an FSE medium, and you need to initialize the medium volumes
on it.
Initializing media
After formatting, an FSE medium needs to be initialized. Initialization is the second step of the media
preparation for use in the FSE implementation. For each medium volume on the FSE medium, initialization
labels its header and adds a corresponding medium volume entry to the Resource Management Database.
A medium is initialized using the following command:
If particular medium has already been used in the FSE implementation or contains certain types of data,
you must use forced initialization to initialize it. The following command initiates forced initialization for a
medium:
fsemedium --format Barcode
fsemedium --format Barcode --force
Medium contents Type of formatting
Regular (--format) Forced (--format --force)
Blank (new) YES YES
Unknown (contains data of unknown format) YES YES
Tar volumes NO YES
ECMA/ANSI volumes NO YES
FSE volumes with no valid FSE user data NO YES
FSE volumes with FSE backup images NO YES
FSE volumes with valid FSE user data NO NO
fsemedium --init Barcode
fsemedium --init Barcode --force