Using the Option › Device Manager Operations › View Media Information › Detailed Information About Media

Detailed Information About Media

When you select Detail, the Detail section displays specific information about the media in the slot, such as the expiration date, first format date, last format date, and number of times formatted. Media usage and error count information also display.

A sample Detail section is shown next.

The Detail section of the Media Information window also provides information about Soft Read, Soft Write, and Media errors.

• A soft error (Soft Read and Soft Write) indicates that the storage drive detected a problem when it was trying to read from, or write to, the media, but was able to correct the problem by retrying the operation.
• A media error indicates that some sort of data corruption occurred on the media and the data could not be written or read.

Use this information to determine the quality of your media. It is normal for a storage drive to show a certain number of Soft Read or Soft Write errors. However, you should be concerned if the number of errors is very high in relation to the amount of data being read or written.