Microsoft KB Archive/226056

= Full Inventory Only Uses One Drive in a Multiple Drive Library =

Article ID: 226056

Article Last Modified on 2/26/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server

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This article was previously published under Q226056



SYMPTOMS
When you are using a tape library with a multiple tape device on your Windows 2000-based computer, an inventory may be performed:
 * Automatically when a tape does not mount correctly.
 * Manually when you select if from the Removable Storage Manager (RSM) snap-in.

When this occurs, only 1 drive is used, and there is no way to force it to use more than 1 tape device in a single library.



STATUS
This behavior is by design.



MORE INFORMATION
The amount of time you can save by using all of the drives to do an inventory is minimal compared to the problems that can occur. For example, it is not safe to move the robotic arm in a library until the media becomes ready in the drive. If a drive is designed to eject media that cannot be mounted (such as defective media), the robotic arm could run into it, possibly causing physical damage to the library.

After the media becomes ready in the drive, the amount of time to actually read and identify the media is typically minimal. Usually this is only a few seconds, so by the time the robotic arm could move (even if the danger of damaging the arm did not exist), the first drive would be ready for a new tape. During the time the robotic arm was moving to load the second tape, no other media would be allowed to be loaded in the first drive.

Keywords: kbprb KB226056

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