Editing tape drive properties

1. On the Storage tab, double-click the tape drive for which you want to edit properties.
2. In the left pane, click Properties.
3. Edit any of the following options:

   Name	Displays the name of the tape drive. You can edit this field.
   Description	Displays the description of the tape drive. You can edit this field.
   Hardware compression	Indicates if hardware compression is enabled.
   	If this option is available, this drive is capable of supporting hardware compression.
   	If you configure a job to use hardware compression, and hardware compression is disabled on the device, then hardware compression is unavailable and is not used.
   Block size	Displays the size of the blocks of data that are written to new media in this tape drive. The default is the preferred block size.
   	Some devices (for example, LTO devices) provide better performance when larger block sizes are used. The preferred block size can range from 512 bytes to 64 kilobytes or larger. If you use a tape drive that supports larger block sizes, you can change the tape drive's block size. However, if the tape drive does not allow a block size as large as you want, reconfigure the host bus adapter or the tape drive. After you reconfigure the hardware and restart the Backup Exec services, check if the block size that you want to use is available.
   	See the tape drive manufacturer's documentation for help in configuring the device.
   	Backup Exec does not ensure that the requested block size is supported by that tape drive. You should check the tape drive specifications to make sure that the block size is supported. If the tape drive does not support a block size, it defaults to its standard block size.
   	If the tape drive does not support block size configuration, this option is unavailable.
   Buffer size	Displays the amount of data that is sent to the tape drive on each read or write request. The buffer size must be equal to the block size or an even multiple of the block size.
   	Depending on the amount of memory in your system, increasing this value may improve tape drive performance. Each type of tape drive requires a different buffer size to achieve maximum throughput.
   Buffer count	Displays the number of buffers that are allocated for this tape drive.
   	Depending on the amount of memory in your system, increasing this value may improve device performance. Each type of tape drive requires a different number of buffers to achieve maximum throughput.
   	If you change the buffer count, you may need to adjust the high water count accordingly.
   High water count	Displays the number of buffers to be filled before data is first sent to the tape drive, and any time that the tape drive underruns.
   	The high water count cannot exceed the buffer count. A value of 0 disables the use of high water logic; that is, each buffer is sent to the device as it is filled.
   	The default setting provides satisfactory performance in most instances; in some configurations, throughput performance may be increased when other values are specified in this field. If you increase or decrease the buffer count, the high water count should be adjusted accordingly. If a tape drive has a high water count default of 0, it should be left at 0.
   Reset to default settings	Returns all of the preferred configuration settings to their defaults.
   Read single block mode	Indicates if this tape drive reads only one block of data at a time, regardless of the size of the buffer block.
   	This option is disabled by default.
   Write single block mode	Indicates if this tape drive writes only one block of data at a time. This option provides greater control over the handling of data write errors.
   	Veritas recommends that you select this option if the tape drive is shared.
   	This option is enabled by default.
   Read SCSI pass-through mode	Indicates if this tape drive reads data without going through a Microsoft tape device API. This option allows the data to pass directly through the tape drive and allows more detailed information if device errors occur.
   	This option is disabled by default.
   Write SCSI pass-through mode	Indicates if this tape drive writes data without going through the Microsoft tape device API. This option allows data to pass directly through the device driver and allows more detailed information if device errors occur.
   	Veritas recommends that you select this option if the tape drive is shared.
   	This option is enabled by default.
   Servers that share this device	Displays the servers that can also use this device.
   Media Type	Indicates if barcode rules are enabled for the robotic library that this tape drive is attached to. If barcode rules are enabled, the media types are listed that this tape drive can read from and write to. Backup Exec uses the barcode rules to identify which type of media to use in a drive.
   	You can configure barcode rules, and enable or disable barcode rules for a robotic library.
   	See Configuring barcode rules for a robotic library .
   Can Read From	Indicates if this tape drive can read from the media type.
   	See Configuring barcode rules for a robotic library .
   Can Write To	Indicates if this tape drive can write to this media type.
   	See Configuring barcode rules for a robotic library .

4. Click Apply.

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