LTO (Linear-Tape Open) technology on which Ultrium tape technology is based, is a multi-million dollar collaboration between HP, IBM and Quantum. The LTO philosophy of openness and cooperation has ensured the backing of a wide range of tape drive, media and automation licensees, for an unprecedented level of competition within a single format. For customers, that means quality products, innovation and widespread availability at the best prices. Ultrium tape technology has been designed with an in-depth understanding of every key component in the backup/restore operation – host, interface, hardware, media, backup software, specific data types – and how these variables interact to affect backup performance. The very best features of existing tape storage technologies have been incorporated and enhanced to create a new benchmark for data integrity and reliability.
A reliable and intelligent media
- Up to 1 million passes through high-integrity, durable Ultrium media
- Media profile and usage information can be read from cartridge memory away from the drive in a fraction of the time it takes to load and unload individual files
- LTO-CD (cartridge memory) holds positioning information to facilitate fast access to individual files
- Potential failure can be anticipated through problem diagnosis information such as the number of times the cartridge has been loaded, when it was last cleaned and error logs, all stored in the LTO-CM
Automation
- Ultrium tape drives have been developed with the reliability and robustness required for easy integration into the library environment
Compatibility
- Complete interchange across vendors and generations of Ultrium products ensured by an independent company – the LTO Compliance Verification Entity (CVE)
- Basic level compatibility already established with HP OpenView OmniBack II, Computer Associates ARCserveIT, Legato, Veritas and many other backup software packages
- Compatibility of all Ultrium tape products with leading UNIX and NT servers is ensured by HPs test programme
Growing capacity
- Each new generation will double in capacity and performance. With these credible capacity and performance improvements explicitly defined, Ultrium tape technology is set to outlive all others
- Choice of performance of up to 300MB/sec native
- Maximum system throughout ensured by tape drive matching host speed
- Supports high-performance interfaces, Fiber Channel and SAS
- The drive is able to detect defective areas of tape for a major reliability improvement
- A read-while-write feature automatically verifies written data and rewrites data written to bad areas of tape
- Up to 12.5% (one full track) of recorded bits can be lost or unreadable and the data will still be recovered
- Mechanism designed for 100% duty cycle (standalone and automated)
- Drive automatically issues warning when media should be replaced
- Active internal head cleaner reduces the need for manual cleaning
LTO-8 Technical Specifications
| Capacity | 12.0TB native, 30.0TB with data compression |
| Recording Format | Ultrium Generation 8 |
| Performance |
- Transfer rate 300MB/sec native
- Up to 750MB/sec with data compression
|
| Interfaces |
|
| Media |
- Read and writes both LTO-8 and LTO-7 tapes
- Universal LTO Cleaning Tape
|
LTO-7 Technical Specifications
| Capacity | 6.0TB native, 15.0TB with hardware data compression |
| Recording Format | Ultrium Generation 7 |
| Performance |
- Transfer rate 300MB/sec native
- Transfer rate 750MB/sec with hardware data compression
|
| Interfaces |
- Fibre Channel 8 GB/sec
- SAS: 6 GB/sec
|
| Media |
- Reads LTO-5
- Read and writes LTO-6 and LTO-7
- Universal LTO Cleaning Tape
|
LTO-6 Technical Specifications
| Capacity | 2.5TB native, 6.25TB with hardware data compression |
| Recording Format | Ultrium Generation 6 |
| Performance |
- Transfer rate 160MB/sec native
- Up to 400MB/sec with hardware data compression
|
| Interfaces |
- Fibre Channel 8 GB/sec
- SAS: 6 GB/sec
|
| Media |
- Reads LTO-4
- Read and writes LTO-5 and LTO-6
- Universal LTO Cleaning Tape
|
