Chapter 5 ATAPI Interface
Page 30 Seagate Travan 40 Product Manual
ERASE (Group 0, Op. Code 19) The ERASE command will erase the entire tape if the tape is positioned at BOT.
Both the Directory and the Data Partitions will be erased. If the drive is in the
Directory Partition when the ERASE command is received, the drive will remain in
the Directory Partition after the operation is completed. The drive performs a Logical
Erase by rewriting the directory information; the data on the tape is not physically
erased or overwritten.
If the ERASE command is issued when the drive is not at BOT, no erase operation
will be performed and the drive will return an Illegal Request Sense Key.
This command is used to erase previously written data.
Command Descriptor Block for ERASE Command
Data Bits
Byte 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Hex
0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 19
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 IMM LONG 0X
2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00
3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00
4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00
5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00
NOTE: The ATAPI interface does not have an IMM bit or functional equivalent. The
DSC and BUSY bits in the Host taskfile status register indicate bus and
command status.
LONG: Use of the LONG bit is optional. Drive operation is the same whether
LONG = 0 or LONG = 1.