Abstract: A media drive having a front panel for displaying historical event information associated with the media drive is provided. The media drive includes a front panel portion having a plurality of indicia for displaying information in a binary format. In one example, the indicia include a plurality of light emitting diodes (or other light sources) for representing the binary data. The media drive further includes a drive controller having display logic for selectively addressing the plurality of indicia to display historical event information associated with the media drive. The historical event information may include historical events (e.g., types or categories of historical events) as well as detailed error codes associated with the historical events (e.g., more detailed information relating to the status or error of the particular historical event).