Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for enforcing policy controls for non-system managed tape media. The apparatus includes an operating system configured to communicate with a tape media drive, and an identification module configured to identify a tape media type of a tape media cartridge. The apparatus may also include a policy module configured to maintain control policies for tape media types, and a media control module configured to enforce the control policies. The system includes a computing system having a processor, a cache, an operating system, and a plurality of input/output interfaces, a tape media drive coupled to the computing system, and the apparatus. The method includes communicating with a tape media drive, identifying a tape media type of a tape media cartridge, maintaining a plurality of control policies for tape media types, and enforcing the plurality of control policies.

Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method are presented for scaling storage media to improve data access performance. A scaling module is provided and configured to receive a dataset, identify storage characteristics of the dataset, make a determination based upon user-defined storage criteria, and select a storage instruction. In one embodiment, the storage instruction is configured to scale the storage medium to a predefined capacity. The predefined capacity of the storage medium is configured to optimize data access performance. Alternatively, the storage instruction is configured to not scale the storage medium. Additionally, the present invention may be configured to map and track the storage medium while the dataset is being written to or read from the storage medium.