The Advanced Deck Settings section is where you will be able to edit both LTFS Options and Mount Options. To access these options, navigate to the Deck Control screen and select the Gear Icon to the right of your tape’s model and name.
The top section, titled LTFS Options, gives you control over a number of different options. First, select the LTFS that you would like to use. This option will default to the built-in bundled LTFS.
If you would prefer to use a custom LTFS you can view an article detailing the process for its set-up here.
The second option, Index Sync Options, allows you to select how often the tape index will be saved in memory and added to the tape before the tape is unmounted. If this process becomes out of sync there is the potential for data loss. From the dropdown menu, users have multiple options on how to handle it.
On Unmount will only save the tape index after you have finished working with your tape and unmounted it. While this is the fastest option, it is also the most risky. If something were to go wrong while writing to tape, you could possibly lose all of the data from this session.
Time Interval is the LTFS manufacturer recommended option and allows you to save the tape index at custom intervals ranging from every minute to every 30 minutes. The more often you save the tape index, the longer the replication will take.
File Close will save the index after every file write. However, it is important to note that this can result in significant overhead if syncing occurs too frequently. If only a few large files are being written, the additional overhead may be minimal. However, if many files are being written, the overhead can be very significant.
Directly underneath the LTFS Options are the Mount Options. These options give you a few more ways to customize your set-up.
Mount Location allows you to select the destination that your deck will be mounted when the mount command is issued. If the tape is currently mounted, it will give the file system path to the mouth location.
Mount Name lets you choose how you would like to name your deck. Options include naming it after your Tape Barcode, Tape Serial Number, or a custom naming convention.
Mount Type allows you to choose from three different ways to mount your tape. Options include...
Standard Mount will mount your tape whilst performing some very minor recovery routines. While these routines could fix some issues, they will also increase the time it takes to mount your tape.
Fast Mount can help you avoid overhead when first mounting your tape. A standard mount will undertake basic recovery attempts if any problem is discovered with the tape which will add time when first mounting. Selecting this option will skip these attempts saving time but sacrificing security.
Force Mount will allow you to perform tape actions, even if a tape can not be detected. This mount type should be used if your tape is having issues and is not appearing in myLTO.
Eject on Dismount is a handy option to kick the tape from the LTO drive when you’re finished, as Dismounting and Ejecting are two different commands.