CreateTapePartition info  Overview  Group

The CreateTapePartition function reformats a tape.

DWORD CreateTapePartition(

HANDLE hDevice,	// handle to open device
DWORD dwPartitionMethod,	// type of new partition
DWORD dwCount,	// number of new partitions to create
DWORD dwSize	// size of new partition, in megabytes
);

Parameters

hDevice

Identifies the device where the new partition is to be created. This handle is created by using the CreateFile function.

dwPartitionMethod

Specifies the type of partition to create. To determine what type of partitions your device supports, see the documentation for your hardware. This parameter can have one of the following values:

Value	Description
TAPE_FIXED_PARTITIONS	Partitions the tape based on the device’s default definition of partitions. The dwCount and dwSize parameters are ignored.
TAPE_INITIATOR_PARTITIONS	Partitions the tape into the number and size of partitions specified by dwCount and dwSize, respectively, except for the last partition. The size of the last partition is the remainder of the tape.
TAPE_SELECT_PARTITIONS	Partitions the tape into the number of partitions specified by dwCount. The dwSize parameter is ignored. The size of the partitions is determined by the device’s default partition size. For more specific information, refer to the documentation for your tape device.

dwCount

Specifies the number of partitions to create. The GetTapeParameters function provides the maximum number of partitions a tape can support.

dwSize

Specifies the size, in megabytes, of each partition. This value is ignored if the dwPartitionMethod parameter is TAPE_SELECT_PARTITIONS.

Return Values

If the function succeeds, the return value is NO_ERROR.

If the function fails, it may return one of the following error codes:

Error	Description
ERROR_BEGINNING_OF_MEDIA	An attempt to access data before the beginning-of-medium marker failed.
ERROR_BUS_RESET	A reset condition was detected on the bus.
ERROR_END_OF_MEDIA	The end-of-tape marker was reached during an operation.
ERROR_FILEMARK_DETECTED	A filemark was reached during an operation.
ERROR_SETMARK_DETECTED	A setmark was reached during an operation.
ERROR_NO_DATA_DETECTED	The end-of-data marker was reached during an operation.
ERROR_PARTITION_FAILURE	The tape could not be partitioned.
ERROR_INVALID_BLOCK_LENGTH	The block size is incorrect on a new tape in a multivolume partition.
ERROR_DEVICE_NOT_PARTITIONED	The partition information could not be found when a tape was being loaded.
ERROR_MEDIA_CHANGED	The tape that was in the drive has been replaced or removed.
ERROR_NO_MEDIA_IN_DRIVE	There is no media in the drive.
ERROR_NOT_SUPPORTED	The tape driver does not support a requested function.
ERROR_UNABLE_TO_LOCK_MEDIA	An attempt to lock the ejection mechanism failed.
ERROR_UNABLE_TO_UNLOAD_MEDIA	An attempt to unload the tape failed.
ERROR_WRITE_PROTECT	The media is write protected.

Remarks

Creating partitions reformats the tape. All previous information recorded on the tape is destroyed.

See Also

CreateFile, GetTapeParameters

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