All optical data is stored on a unit that is called a volume. This is true regardless of the type of media, the type of optical media library that is used, and the way the storage device connects to your system.
A single CD-ROM or DVD-ROM disk contains one volume. WORM and erasable optical cartridges are two sided and contain two volumes per cartridge (one per side). DVD-RAM can be either one sided or two sided.
Each volume has its own name that is chosen by the person who initializes the volume. The name chosen must be unique from the names of all other volumes on the system. Two volumes with the same name cannot be active at the same time. The volume name usually never changes after the volume is generated, although volume renaming is supported. The creator of the CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs chooses the names, and the names cannot be changed.
HFS, the integrated file system, and the save and restore functions all use volume names to access or create data on the volume.
You can display and manage the optical volumes on an i5/OS™ by using the Work with Optical Volumes (WRKOPTVOL) command. The hierarchical file system and integrated file system include the volume name in their path name to select which volume to use. A typical optical path looks like this:
/QOPT/VOLUMENAME/MYDIR/MYFILE.EXT
Where:
