A method for securing access to a data medium comprises listing at least one
unique
identifier of media that a data transfer element is allowed to access in memory
storage of the data transfer element, accessing only media having at least one
of the listed unique identifiers in media cartridge memory with the data transfer
element, and writing a unique identifier associated with the data transfer element
to the cartridge memory of the selected medium with the data transfer element in
response to no library assigned unique identifier being present in the cartridge
memory of the selected medium.