HP StorageWorks MSL2024, MSL4048, and MSL8096 Tape Libraries Ultrium 1840 tape drive firmware release notes (AK378-96025, August 2009)

Read/space issues
Read hang if drive error occurs when searching for End Of Record (EOR)
Previously if a drive encounters an error condition having previously encountered an over-length
record, the host interface will hang. The Host Interface state machine has been modified to deal with
this situation, and ensure that it will respond with an error if it encounters an unknown event combination
in future.
Retries during read ahead can keep the Ready LED flashing
It was possible for the ready LED to continue flashing even when there was no tape movement. This
occurred during read ahead when encountering a read retry. This has been corrected.
Write issues
CRC errors on write buffer cause command hang
It was found that CRC errors detected during a single shot read or write command (write/read buffer)
could cause a command hang. This has been fixed.
Encryption/Key Management Issues
First encrypted block recovery
There was a defect in which it is possible for the First Encrypted Block attribute to indicate there are
no encrypted records on tape when in fact there are. This has been fixed
Drives does not request encryption key after a read operation
When external encryption control is in place and the encryption parameters request policy is set to
"request data encryption parameters when not set", the drive must request a key when a Write
command is received after a read operation. The drive now behaves this way.
Allow encryption control changes when primary port disabled
SSC-3 states that if a volume is mounted in the drive, then it is not possible to modify the external
encryption control settings. This has been identified as an issue with customers, especially during tape
recovery. Given that the library is able to disable/enable the primary ports, then the restriction on
configuring the external encryption control whilst volume is mounted has been changed so that if no
primary ports are enabled, then accept the command to change settings. Note that this is a vendor
specific solution and not compliant with SSC-3. An additional requirement is that, if there is no tape
mounted in the drive and the ports are enabled, then changing encryption control settings ought to
be allowed too.
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