The Scalar i6000 replaces Quantum’s Scalar i2000, and can be configured with up to 12 modules, 5,322 tape cartridge slots, 96 tape drives and eight import/export stations with 528 slots (twice as many as the i2000).

LTO-5 tape nearly doubles the capacity of 800GB LTO-4 tape cartridges to 1.5TB (or 3TB assuming 2:1 compression) and LTO-5 tape drives have a native data transfer rate of up to 140MBps (280MBps in compressed mode, which translates into a backup rate of 1TB per hour).

Quantum’s Scalar i6000 tape library comes with an external 8Gbps Fibre Channel connection, and the LTO-5 drives are available with 4Gbps or 8Gbps Fibre Channel interfaces.

As do LTO-4 tape drives, LTO-5 drives include native encryption. Quantum’s libraries support Scalar Key Manager and Quantum Encryption Key Manager (Q-EKM), and with the introduction of the Scalar i6000 the company now supports RSA key management.

Also new with the Scalar i6000 is an enhanced version of Quantum’s iLayer management software and the introduction of Media Data Integrity Analysis (MeDIA) software. MeDIA is similar to media monitoring, analysis and management tools available from tape media manufacturers, but it also monitors “deep archive” media (i.e., tape cartridges not being actively used), according to Ryan Duffy, Quantum’s automation product marketing manager. “Users can be assured that their archived data is available when needed,” says Duffy.

MeDIA software runs in the background and scans tape cartridges to detect potential media problems and ensure data integrity.

The new version of Quantum’s iLayer management software also includes a media security notification feature that helps prevent unauthorized media removal.

An entry-level configuration of the Scalar i6000 is priced at $63,000 with 100 tape cartridge slots and no drives. LTO-5 drives are priced at about $20,000.

Quantum also introduced the 4.0 version of its Vision software, which can be used to manage the company’s Scalar tape-based and DXi disk-based backup products in tiered storage environments. Enhancements include expanded monitoring, more granular and customizable reporting, and improved alerting and troubleshooting features.

(infoStor.com)

“The LTO 4 FC Tape Drive delivers high capacity and increased performance for open systems environments,” says Alex North, group manager for tape at Sun Microsystems. “This improves storage density in new or existing libraries and allows for easy upgrades to newer technology in the same automation footprint. We are seeing solid traction in the market and have outpaced our expectations.”

At the high end of the Sun tape library portfolio stands the StorageTek SL8500 (PDF), with a starting price of $195,830. This modular library can accommodate up to 56 petabytes, or to put it another way, it can scale to 70,000 slots. In addition, it can be shared across multiple environments – this includes mainframe, Solaris, AS/400, Windows, Linux and many flavors of Unix. Not surprisingly, Sun positions it as the ideal platform for consolidating many smaller libraries into one high-performance system.

“We are seeing a lot of consolidation in the tape marketplace, which continues to drive double-digit annual revenue growth in our enterprise library, the Sun StorageTek SL8500,” says North. “Additionally, there continues to be growing demand for high availability, which is driven in part from the consolidation that results in higher utilization of tape drives and thus 24×7 operation.”

For those who don’t need all that capacity and who have space constraints, the Sun StorageTek SL500 (starting at $16,400) is one alternative. Instead of being a colossus that takes up a ton of room, this is a rackmount tape automation model (i.e. it can slide into an existing rack). It only takes up a total of 8 rack units of space.

This library scales from 30 to 575 LTO slots and can deal with multiple cartridge types such as LTO tape and SDLT / DLT-S4. Its maximum capacity is around 460 terabytes (uncompressed) – more than enough for most needs. It can accommodate up to 18 tape drives with a maximum throughput of just over 7 terabytes per hour. Sun targets this machine at such applications as email servers, database applications and file servers.

“We are also seeing strong adoption of the scalable libraries in the distributed and small business space, as evidenced by continued growth of the SL500,” says North.

StorageTek Tape Drives

Sun also offers a wide range of tape drives. For instance, Sun StorageTek LTO Tape Drives can store up to 800 gigabytes. The data on these drives can be moved at rates of 120 megabytes per second. When used with LTO 4 cartridges, the performance advantage over older formats is quite significant. For example, with LTO 3 tape, it takes an average of 19 seconds to load and ready a tape – with the newer format, only 12 seconds. Other comparatives between LTO 3 and 4 on these tape drives are as follows: file access time for the first file down from 72 seconds average to 57 seconds; although it holds twice the capacity, LTO 4 takes an average of 54 seconds to rewind compared to 49 seconds for the previous generation; and data transfer rates have increased from 80 MB/sec to 120 MB/sec (uncompressed).

(Source: EnterpriseITPlanet.com)

LTO-3 Quantum drive can also write data to the second generation LTO-2 tapes including: Sony LTX200GWW LTO-2 tapes, 183850 Maxell LTO-2, HP LTO-2 C7972A tape, Fuji LTO2 backup cartridge, Quantum MR-L2MQN-01 LTO2 tape, Dell LTO-2 340-8701 data tape etc.

So far we have mentioned about the data writing ability of Quantum LTO 3 drive. When we talk about the data reading capability of these Quantum tape drives, they can read data from all LTO3, LTO2 & LTO-1 backup tapes. Part numbers of some LTO backup tapes are mentioned below: C7971A HP LTO-1, LTX200GWW Sony LTO2 tapes, 183900 Maxell LTO3 tape, C7972A, MR-L2MQN-01 Quantum LTO-2, D2405-LTO2, LTX100G LTO1, 26220001 Fuji LTO-2 Backup Tape, 24R1922 IBM LTO 3, 16598 Imation LTO-2, TDK D2406-LTO3, 17532 LTO-3 tape , Fuji LTO-1 tape, Maxell 183800 LTO1 tape etc.

All of these LTO2, LTO-1 and LTO3 tapes deliver cost efficient results with the highly durable LTO-3 HH Quantum drive. These LTO tape cartridges have been carefully engineered and designed for greater durability, compatibility and cost efficiency. LTO backup tapes are more advantageous as their recording capacity and transfer speed doubles after data compression. This means that there is a 100 percent increase in the capacity and transfer rate in compressed mode.

Open nature of LTO distinguishes it from other tape technologies. LTO tape’s open nature increases its scalability and makes it more advantageous. LTO-3 HH Quantum drive offers faster transfer speed of 245 GB/hr and can store up to 400 GB un-compressed data. Quantum LTO-3 HH is the ideal tape drive for your data center as it is enables easy integration and installation. LTO-3 tape drive assures increased media reliability and optimizes the output characteristics. Backward compatibility of the Quantum LTO-3 HH drive secures your I.T investments.

Cleaning cartridge enhances the drive’s useful life. Highly efficient Quantum LTO-3 HH offers superior compatibility and is equally compatible with all of the following universal LTO cleaning cartridges: Maxell 183804 cleaning cartridge, HP C7978A, LTX-CL Sony, TDK D2404-CC, Quantum MR-LUCQN-01, 15931 Imation and IBM 35L2086 cleaning cartridge etc.

These LTO cleaning cartridges and LTO data tapes are developed by the most trusted and vastly experienced manufacturers of media storage products. LTO backup cartridges have longer useful life and also allow faster searching and data recording/reading.

Reference: http://www.content4reprint.com/computers/hardware/

LTO cartridge memory records positioning information that helps to accelerate the file access. Other information stored in LTO cartridge memory includes error logs and media loads. HP LTO ultrium ensures maximum system throughput as it has the new advantageous technique which helps it to match with the host speed. HP ultrium tape drives provide high level of robustness and reliability and are very user friendly which makes it ideal for library environment. According to the LTO CVE (Compliance Verification Entity), the LTO tape media can be interchanged across generations and vendors.

LTO tape products are compatible with Computer Associates ARCserveIT, Veritas, Legato and other backup softwares. HP test programs ensure LTO tape products’ compatibility with the leading NT & UNIX servers. Capacity and performance will be doubled in every new LTO version to achieve 1.6TB capacity is a single LTO cartridge with 1 TB/h transfer speed. HP LTO tape format is set to outlive other tape technologies because of its credible improvements in performance & capacity. HP LTO tape technology is more advantageous, user friendly and economical. LTO tape format is very robust, reliable and cost efficient.

HP LTO is very cost efficient, intelligent and reliable storage media. HP LTO ultrium ensures maximum system throughput as it has the new advantageous technique which helps it to match with the host speed. LTO format supports Ultra-2 SCSI and fiber channel. A single HP LTO-4 C7974A tape cartridge can accommodate 1.6 terabytes of information in compressed mode. The defected areas of the LTO tape media can be identified by the LTO tape drive, which improves reliability.

Read more: http://www.sooperarticles.com/technology-articles/hardware-articles

It’s time to ring the bell for another round of sparring between tape storage heavyweights. The first points to be tallied go to Certance, which released its LTO-3 Tape drives within weeks of the rollout of LTO-3 licenses and months before analysts expected them to hit the market.

Certance, a division of Seagate, has been dunking it out with Quantum Technology over the tape storage market for years. A successor to Digital Equipment Corporation’s storage division, Quantum holds the rights to the DLT Tapes and SuperDLT standards, in direct competition with LTO.

The new release from Certance is one of many in the back-and-forth cycle of one-upsmanship that has been going on for years between LTO and DLT standards. The cycle is a boon to the data center, which has seen exponential increases in tape capacity and transfer rates during the past half-decade.

LTO

This time, LTO-2 tape users are going to see capacity and data transfer rates double with an upgrade to the third generation of LTO. LTO-3 features 400GB of native capacity, with data transfer rates from 80Mbps to 160Mbps depending on compression. The transition from LTO-2 should be smooth, with the new LTO-3 drives offering both read and write backward-compatibility with LTO-2 tapes. The new standard even provides some backward-compatibility with LTO-1 tapes, allowing users to at least read these tapes with their newer drives.

Released in August, the Certance CL 800 is the first model to feature these new specs. Priced at approximately $6,000, the new unit comes in internal, external, or rackmount form with an Ultra 160 SCSI interface. (Fibre Channel drives are expected by year’s end.) Because LTO technology is under development with the cooperation of a number of manufacturers, buyers should have the opportunity to choose among a number of LTO-3 devices as soon as manufacturers such as HP and IBM follow Certance’s lead.

SDLT

This is in contrast with Quantum’s proprietary SDLT tapes technology, which is released through the company and a few of its select partners. Now Quantum has some catching up to do as its most up-to-date standard, SDLT 600, has only a 300GB native storage capacity and a data transfer rate of 72Mbps. The company doesn’t plan on rolling out an update until next year, when it promises to double the capacity. But the early release of LTO-3 licensing shows that it is possible to advance tape storage more quickly than expected. It still remains to be seen whether Quantum is as nimble as the LTO consortium of researchers, though.

No matter how long the wait, it won’t do much to improve SDLT’s market share. LTO is already winning the battle for tape supremacy. Forecasting from Freeman Reports estimates that by the end of the year, DLT/SDLT equipment sales will only reach $559 million, compared to LTO revenue of $886 million.

Quantum’s SDLT 600 does still have a couple of advantages over LTO-3. The most obvious is affordability, coupled with newly released support for WORM. Last month Quantum extended WORM support free of charge to all of its SDLT 600 products through the installation of its new DLTice software. LTO-3 is still lacking this critical feature, with developers promising WORM support in the very near future.

Reference: http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/p2638/32p38/32p38.asp&guid=

PS: Content can be differentiating as by time.

Tape advantages, compared to hard disks

• Simpler and more robust mechanical construction. The tape is physically separate from the tape drive (unlike a hard disk). There are no moving read/write heads that can crash.
• Smaller and lighter. This is useful if large quantities of data are stored or sent by courier to an off-site disaster recovery center.
• Long term archival reliability. Some tape manufacturers claim 30 years. Hard disk warranties rarely exceed 5 years.

Tape disadvantages, compared to hard disks

• No random access to the files, slower to restore a specific file.
• Lower read/write cycle lifespan, typically a few hundred per tape.

Introduction to Tape Drive Basics

Tape drives are built a lot like hard disks drives. Internal tape drives are caseless drives designed to be mounted inside a standard hard disk bay. Many have SATA, SAS or SCSI interfaces. External tape drives are standalone units, typically with a SAS, SCSI or USB interface. Rackmount units are also available for data centers.

A 2:1 compression ratio is assumed for most tape formats. A tape with a “real”, native or uncompressed capacity of 160 gigabytes will also be stated as having a compressed (effective) capacity of 320 gigabytes.

Read/write speeds are commonly given in megabytes/second. Compressed and uncompressed data speeds are also used. A drive that can transfer 10 megabytes/second will be specified with a compressed transfer speed of 20 megabytes/second.

For a quick estimate of transfer times:

• 1 megabyte/second = 3.6 gigabytes/hour
• 10 megabytes/second = 36 gigabytes/hour
• 100 megabytes/second = 360 gigabytes/hour

In this article, only native or uncompressed figures are given for speeds and capacities.

The prices of tape drives given below are for single-tape drives. More expensive autoloader (jukebox or autochanger) tape drives are not considered. Transfer speeds are for a specific model, and can be higher or lower for different brands and models.

Sony discontinued the sale of their AIT tape drives in March 2010, therefore this format will not be covered. Travan (maximum 20 gigabytes) and VXA formats are also not covered.

Ultrium LTO Storage Tapes

LTO (Linear Tape Open) is an open standard from Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Quantum. These are high performance systems, with the higher capacity drives costing a few thousand dollars and tapes reaching $40. The different LTO formats, capacities and speeds are:

• LTO 1 tape, 100 gigabytes, 20 megabytes/second
• LTO 2 tape, 200 gigabytes, 40 megabytes/second
• LTO 3 tape, 400 gigabytes, 80 megabytes/second
• LTO 4 tape, 800 gigabytes, 120 megabytes/second
• LTO 5 tape, 1.5 terabytes (not released yet)
• LTO 6 tape, 3.2 terabytes (not released yet)

How to Choose the Best Backup Tape Format Type

DDS/DAT tapes provide affordable storage for small enterprises, or can be used as dedicated backup for individual servers. VXA backup tapes (not covered in this article) should also be considered. Data centers with large amounts of data and small backup windows will need to look at the larger, faster and more expensive LTO or DLT drives. NAS and RAID disks can replace or complement tape systems.

The LTO website has an overview of LTO Ultrium tape generations. The DAT website has a DAT/DDS roadmap. The Amazon website lists a wide variety of tapes and drives from different manufacturers. The list can be narrowed down by searching for specific tape formats.

Read more: http://bit.ly/9lox17

When LTO tape drives were first developed there were two formats available: Accelis for high speed and Ultrium for high capacity. As the speed of the Ultrium format grew, the demand for Accelis dropped and that format has been discontinued. In today’s marketplace, LTO and Ultrium have become interchangeable. The Baba Direct is you primary provider of AIT Tape, Sony LTO Ultrium, Green Products, 4MM Tapes, 8MM Tapes, DLT Tapes, DVD/CDR, Enterprise Tapes, LTO Tapes, Optical Cartridges, QIC Tapes, SDLT Tapes, SLR / MLR Tapes, Tape Library, Tape Storage Cases, VXA Tapes, Zip Drives, 10000 Tapes, Flash Drive, Storage Devices and Hard Drive. We have the Linear Tape Open format that supports portability, superior performance, data security and large capacity to hold the data. The LTO technology, which will backup from 200 Gbytes to 800 Gbytes of data, will come in two implementations: the Ultrium single reel line and the Accelis dual reel line, said Robert Hill, Information Storage Group sales and marketing manager for Hewlett Packard. The LTO ultrium tape cartridge saves cost and energy in data archiving for longer periods of time. The LTO-5 tape format will have more transfer speed and physical storage capacity than that of the LTO generation 4. The LTO5 will also have the encryption mechanism of hardware based and the WORM functionality to address the compliance requirements and data security.

The Ultrium will offer a single reel 200 Gbyte capacity system at 20 to 40 Mbps (Megabytes per second) transfer rate. The Accelis line will be a dual reel offering with 50 Gbyte capacity in under 10 second data retrieval rates. Hill spoke about the technology, which is being developed in conjunction with IBM Corp. and Seagate Technology Inc., at a press briefing here.

That capability doesn’t come cheap. The price of an LTO tapes, drive is out of reach of a home user or small business, and the cost of a tape library can run well into the five-figure range, but LTO tapes is overkill for those markets anyhow. This technology is aimed squarely at the highest capacity backup needs, the large enterprise LAN. For that target customer, LTO is probably the best choice of competing technologies and now at u can find at http://www.babadirect.com and http://www.datamediaexperts.com in the affordable price.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: 4MM Tapes, 8MM Tapes, AIT Tape, DLT Tapes, DVD/CDR, Enterprise Tapes, Green Products, LTO Tapes, Optical Cartridges, QIC Tapes, SDLT Tapes, SLR / MLR Tapes, Sony LTO Ultrium, Tape Library

During the format war over high-definition optical discs, Blu-ray Disc competed with the HD DVD format. On February 19, 2008, Toshiba—the main company supporting HD DVD—announced that it would no longer develop, manufacture, or market HD DVD players and recorders, leading almost all other HD DVD companies to follow suit, effectively ending the format war.

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Article Author: tem joan
Author Home Page: www.babadirect.com
Article Category: Technology

LTO Tapes or (Linear Tape Open) is as its name implies a linear tape backup driver technology. This technology has been developed in a consortium by Seagate, IBM and HP. There are two formats for LTO Ultrium and Accelis. They serve different needs and are not compatible.

There are the following types of versions and products available for LTO Tapes is LTO-3 Tapes, LTO-1 Tapes, LTO-2 Tapes, LTO-4 Tapes, Baba Certified LTO Media, Baba Certified LTO-2, LTO Barcode Labels

The ATI tape is the abbreviation of Advanced Intelligent Tape (AIT Tapes). The AIT Tapes is a high-speed, high-capacity magnetic tape data storage format developed and controlled by Sony. AIT backup tapes are made to store data efficiently and in large quantities. The SCSI technology that AIT backup tapes incorporate help to maximize data transfer. AIT Tapes (Advanced Intelligent Tape) introduced by Seagate and Sony is based on 8mm technology and represent a new 8mm technology known as Advanced Intelligent Tape (AIT Tapes). AIT-3 Tapes can store 100GB, 260GB compressed with a 12 MBps data rate. Increased rewind and positioning access time for fast access of data segments.

There are the following types of versions and products available for AIT Tapes: AIT-1 Tapes, AIT-2 Turbo Tapes, AIT-3 Tapes, AIT-4 Tapes, AIT-5 Tapes, AIT-E Turbo Tapes, AIT Barcode Labels, and AIT-2 Tapes.

]]> http://weblinks62.wordpress.com/2008/10/13/ait-tapes-or-lto-tapes/feed/ 1 weblinks62 http://weblinks62.wordpress.com/2008/09/29/midrange-tape-products/ http://weblinks62.wordpress.com/2008/09/29/midrange-tape-products/#comments Mon, 29 Sep 2008 05:50:11 +0000 weblinks62 http://weblinks62.wordpress.com/?p=30 ]]>

New high-end and midrange tape products are coming, with a focus on security and reliability at the most cheapest price as well. Baba Direct, with financial customers as one target audience, is now shipping WORM (write-once, read-many) technology in AIT devices. Meanwhile, Imation Corp. has improved its capacity and signal-to-noise ratio in LTO units.
The developments follow recent overall format upgrades of both Advanced Intelligent

We have the best brands of LTO Tapes , AIT Tapes , SDLT Tapes , DLT Tapes , SLR / MLR Tapes VXA Tapes Travan Tapes , QIC Tapes , Zip Drives Tape Storage Cases at the cheapest rates . we have the fastest delivery system and mostly free.

Baba Direct put the WORM firmware in its AIT-3 media and drives, both from Sony Electronics Inc., in San Francisco, California. It’s also in the library software. “Probably we will go back and certify AIT-2 as well, within the next three to four months,” said Eddi Hassan, a Baba Direct product manager, in Berkeley, California. Shipping now, the new tapes cost $115, versus $100 for the non-WORM models, he said.
Baba Direct doesn’t provide any tools for users to migrate data from the old tapes to the new, but does offer professional services for such tasks, he said.
For its part, Imation Corp.’s second-generation LTO media will ship next month, said Eddy, director of Baba Direct. The new tapes hold 200GB of data transferred at up to 40GBps, with double of those specifications if the data is compressed. The tapes have a slightly improved signal-to-noise ratio of 26:1, measured in decibels, versus 25:1 in the first-generation units, Eddy said. They also have 512Kb per inch, versus 384Kbpi in the older version, he said.
Pricing for the new tapes, called Black Watch Ultrium, has not yet been set but is expected to be slightly higher than the former version, which currently cost about $70 each, Eddy said.

Baba Direct.
http://www.babadirect.com