Indirect storage data transfer

1. A method of transferring data between a first storage device coupled to a host computing system and a second storage device coupled to the first storage device, comprising:

an application on the host computing system generating a command for directly accessing a phantom version of the second storage device, wherein the phantom version is provided by driver software on the host computing system that causes the phantom version to appear to the application as the second storage device coupled directly to the host computing system;

the first storage device receiving the command from the host computing system;

the first storage device determining if the command includes metadata for transferring data between the first storage device and an out-of-band (OOB) storage device; and

if the command includes metadata for transferring data between the first storage device and the OOB storage device, the first storage device sending a command to the second storage device to cause the second storage device to transfer data directly between the first storage device and the second storage device independent of the host computing system, wherein the application on the host computing system waits for a return value from the phantom version of the second storage device following sending the command.

2. A method, according to claim 1 , further comprising:

the first storage device emulating a host computing system in connection with communicating with the second storage device.

3. A method, according to claim 1 , wherein the second storage device is a tape emulation unit.

4. A method, according to claim 3 , wherein the data is stored on the second storage device using a virtual tape format.

5. A method, according to claim 3 , wherein the metadata for transferring data between the first storage device and the OOB storage device causes execution of at least one of: a mounting tape command, an exchanging data with tape command, a media changer command, and a receiving media changer information command.

6. A method, according to claim 1 , wherein the data is transformed while the data is being transferred between the first storage device and the second storage device.

7. A method, according to claim 1 wherein the first storage device holds the return value from the second storage device.

8. A method, according to claim 7 , wherein the host computing system requests the return value from the first storage device.

9. A method, according to claim 1 , wherein the host computing system is coupled to the second storage device.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing software that transfers data between a first storage device coupled to a host computing system and a second storage device coupled to the first storage device, the software comprising:

executable application code on the host computing system that generates a command for directly accessing a phantom version of the second storage device, wherein the phantom version is provided by driver software on the host computing system that causes the phantom version to appear to the application code as the second storage device coupled directly to the host computing system;

executable code that receives the command from the host computing system;

executable code that determines if the command includes metadata for transferring data between the first storage device and an out-of-band (OOB) storage device; and

executable code that sends a command to the second storage device to cause the second storage device to transfer data directly between the first storage device and the second storage device independent of the host computing system if the command includes metadata for transferring data between the first storage device and the OOB storage device, wherein the application on the host computing system waits for a return value from the phantom version of the second storage device following sending the command.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium, according to claim 10 , the software further comprising:

executable code that emulates a host computing system in connection with communicating with the second storage device.

12. A non-transitory computer readable medium, according to claim 10 , wherein the second storage device is a tape emulation unit.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium, according to claim 12 , wherein the data is stored on the second storage device using a virtual tape format.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium, according to claim 12 , wherein the metadata for transferring data between the first storage device and the OOB storage device causes execution of at least one of: a mounting tape command, an exchanging data with tape command, a media changer command, and a receiving media changer information command.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium, according to claim 10 , wherein the data is transformed while the data is being transferred between the first storage device and the second storage device.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium, according to claim 10 , wherein the first storage device holds the return value from the second storage device.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium, according to claim 16 , wherein the host computing system requests the return value from the first storage device.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium, according to claim 10 , wherein the host computing system is coupled to the second storage device.