Linear tape open
Linear Tape Open ( LTO ) is a specification for ½-inch magnetic tapes and their associated tape drives . It was developed as a joint project by IBM , HP and Seagate . With Quantum's acquisition of Seagate's magnetic tape business, Quantum has replaced Seagate in the LTO alliance.
A special feature of LTO is that it was not planned as a solution from a single manufacturer from the start. Today, magnetic tapes and almost all robotics manufacturers offer autoloaders and libraries for LTO from over 30 manufacturers . These are certified by the copyright consortium.
The original plan was to establish the two formats LTO-Ultrium and LTO-Accelis . While Ultrium was intended for data backup , Accelis was intended for archiving . Accelis should therefore enable much faster access to individual files. However, it never got beyond the development stage and was discarded before it was launched. Ultimately, only LTO-Ultrium was brought to market maturity.
Another special feature of LTO is that a continuous development process was planned from the start. Every two years, a new generation of state-of-the-art products is to be offered in which the tape capacity is doubled and the data transfer rate is also doubled or at least increased by 50%. Drives can also process tapes of the previous generation and can still read tapes from the penultimate generation (LTO-8 can only read and write LTO-7). Since Generation 4, the LTO consortium has fallen behind a little. Currently (2020) LTO Ultrium drives are available in generations 5 through 8.
WORM tapes that do not allow overwriting have been available since generation 3 . This write protection is anchored in the firmware of the drives and is activated via the properties of the inserted tape. Not every generation 3 or later drive is required to support WORM tapes.
Since generation 4, tapes can also be encrypted regardless of the manufacturer. To do this, the drive and tape must be at least generation 4. The AES algorithm is used for encryption with a 256-bit key in Galois / Counter mode ( AES256-GCM ). The implementation of the procedure is in accordance with IEEE specifications. The performance is not or only insignificantly (1%) influenced. Key management is not part of the LTO standard. It can be part of the tape library, the (backup) application or a stand-alone program. This can also be used to influence whether and which parts of the recording are encrypted on a tape. Not every generation 4 or later drive is required to support encryption.
The Linear Tape File System was introduced with Generation 5 . The drives are thus able to create two partitions on each tape , one of which contains the metadata of the other. The metadata is recorded in Extensible Markup Language (XML). Tapes with the Linear Tape File System can therefore be self-explanatory. The specification is open source .
In addition to the full-height drives (3.5 inches), half-height drives (1.75 inches like many optical drives) are also manufactured, the maximum transfer rates of which can be about 20–35% lower.
IBM announced Generation 8 on October 10, 2017, and the first drives should be available in early November 2017. LTO-8 has a native capacity of 12 TB. For the first time, there will only be backwards compatibility of one generation - LTO-8 drives can only read and write LTO-7 tapes, while LTO-6 tapes can no longer be used at all. IBM offers full-height drives with a maximum native speed of 360 MB / s and half-height drives with a native speed of 300 MB / s. The drives are available with 8 Gbit Fiber Channel or with 6 Gbit SAS connection. Due to a legal dispute between Fujifilm and Sony, no LTO-8 media are available on the markets until further notice (as of July 2019).
| Drive generation |
Media type | Magnetic material | Belt capacity with the same generation | maximum transfer rate | compatible tapes | Availability | new function | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| without compression |
with compression |
without compression |
with compression |
Write | Read | Licenses since |
Products since |
|||||
| Ultrium 1 | LTO-1 (L1) | 100 GB | 200 GB | 20 MB / s | 40 MB / s | Ultrium 1 | Ultrium 1 | 1998 | 2000 | |||
| Ultrium 2 | LTO-2 (L2) | 200 GB | 400 GB | 40 MB / s | 80 MB / s | Ultrium 1 Ultrium 2 |
Ultrium 1 Ultrium 2 |
April 2002 | Late 2002 | |||
| Ultrium 3 | LTO-3 (L3) | 400 GB | 800 GB | 80 MB / s | 160 MB / s | Ultrium 2 Ultrium 3 |
Ultrium 1 Ultrium 2 Ultrium 3 |
July 2004 | Late 2004 | WORM | ||
| Ultrium 4 | LTO-4 (L4) | Metal particles | 800 GB | 1,600 GB | 120 MB / s | 240 MB / s | Ultrium 3 Ultrium 4 |
Ultrium 2 Ultrium 3 Ultrium 4 |
Late 2006 | Spring 2007 | Encryption | |
| Ultrium 5 | LTO-5 (L5) | Metal particles | 1,500 GB | 3,000 GB | 140 MB / s | 280 MB / s | Ultrium 4 Ultrium 5 |
Ultrium 3 Ultrium 4 Ultrium 5 |
Summer 2009 | Spring 2010 | Partitioning for LTFS (2 partitions) | |
| Ultrium 6 | LTO-6 (L6) | Metal particles or barium ferrite | 2,500 GB | 6,250 GB | 160 MB / s | 400 MB / s | Ultrium 5 Ultrium 6 |
Ultrium 4 Ultrium 5 Ultrium 6 |
June 2011 | December 2012 | LTO-DC: Increase in compression efficiency to "2.5: 1" max. 4 partitions |
|
| Ultrium 7 | LTO-7 (L7) | Barium ferrite | 6,000 GB | 15,000 GB | 300 MB / s | 750 MB / s | Ultrium 6 Ultrium 7 |
Ultrium 5 Ultrium 6 Ultrium 7 |
September 2015 | October 2015 | ||
| Ultrium 8 | LTO-7 (M8) | Barium ferrite | 9,000 GB | 22,500 GB | 300 MB / s | 750 MB / s | Ultrium 7 Ultrium 8 |
Ultrium 7 Ultrium 8 |
October 2017 | November 2017
(Media not available initially) |
Drives only one generation backwards compatible
unused tapes of generation 7 (LTO-7) can be initialized as LTO-8 type M (M8), this changes the uncompressed capacity from 6 to 9 TB (compressed from 15 to 22.5 TB) |
|
| LTO-8 (L8) | Barium ferrite | 12,000 GB | 30,000 GB | 360 MB / s | 900 MB / s | |||||||
| Ultrium 9 | LTO-9 (L9) | 25,000 GB | 62,500 GB | 708 MB / s | 1770 MB / s | Ultrium 8 Ultrium 9 |
Ultrium 7 Ultrium 8 Ultrium 9 |
- | - | |||
| Ultrium 10 | LTO-10 (L10) | 48,000 GB | 120,000 GB | 1100 MB / s | 2750 MB / s | Ultrium 9 Ultrium 10 |
Ultrium 8 Ultrium 9 Ultrium 10 |
- | - | |||
| Ultrium 11 | LTO-11 (L11) | 96,000 GB | 240,000 GB | - | - | |||||||
| Ultrium 12 | LTO-12 (L12) | 192,000 GB | 480,000 GB | - | - | |||||||
| Ultrium 13 | LTO-13 (L13) | Strontium ferrite | 384,000 GB | 960,000 GB | - | - | ||||||
front left: write protection bar,
front right: memory chip,
rear right: beginning of the tape.
The mechanical principle of the LTO tape cartridge has a lot in common with the single-hole cartridge developed by Philips in 1961 .
Ultrium tapes have similar AIT tapes over a semiconductor memory in the cartridge casing, which is read wirelessly and written. The serial number of the tape and the usage log files of the last 100 tape mounts are stored in this 32–128 kilobit (4–16 kB ) memory chip.
The Ultrium cartridges measure 102.0 mm × 105.4 mm × 21.5 mm. During the development of the LTO Ultrium tapes, special consideration was given to the requirements of automated data backup. The Ultrium cassettes, for example, have a slight wedge shape and special recesses that make it easier for a robot to grasp the cassette. The wedge shape is useful when a robot places the cassette in the drive, as the wedge shape increases the offset tolerance. LTO Ultrium tape libraries are available in sizes from 1 TB to just over 100 PB. The media subsidiary of the National Geographic Society paid a low $ 1.3 million or $ 264 per terabyte for an LTO library with a capacity of 5 petabytes around 2010 compared to its hard drive systems . LTO Ultrium drives can be connected to hosts via SCSI or SAS , and to storage area networks via iSCSI or Fiber Channel .
The typical power consumption of an LTO3 or LTO4 tape drive is less than 20 W in operation and less than 5 W in standby. These values are manufacturer-dependent.
The required servo information on LTO tapes is only written during manufacture, similar to hard drives . If these are erased or damaged by a strong magnetic field, a tape is unusable.
| generation | thickness | length | Number of tracks | Linear bit density [bits / mm] |
EEPROM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cleaning tape | 8.9 µm | 319 m | 32 kbit (4 kB ) | ||
| Ultrium 1 | 8.9 µm | 609 m | 384 | 4,880 | 32 kbit (4 kB) |
| Ultrium 2 | 8.9 µm | 609 m | 512 | 7,398 | 32 kbit (4 kB) |
| Ultrium 3 | 8.0 µm | 680 m | 704 | 9,638 | 32 kbit (4 kB) |
| Ultrium 4 | 6.6 µm | 820 m | 896 | 13,250 | 64 kbit (8 kB) |
| Ultrium 5 | 6.4 µm | 846 m | 1,280 | 15,142 | 64 kbit (8 kB) |
| Ultrium 6 | 6.1 µm | 846 m | 2.176 | 15,143 | 128 kbit (16 kB) |
| Ultrium 7 | 5.6 µm | 960 m | 3,584 | 19.094 | 128 kbit (16 kB) |
| Ultrium 8 | 5.6 µm | 960 m | 6,656 | 20.668 | 128 kbit (16 kB) |
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ LTO Technology Group: WORM , Retrieved on January 15, 2018 11:33 (Engl.)
- ↑ LTO Program Frequently Asked Questions ( Memento of the original from July 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Accessed on March 8th 2009, 13:15 (Engl.)
- ^ LTO Program Frequently Asked Questions. (No longer available online.) Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Quantum, archived from the original on May 29, 2010 ; accessed on May 22, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Linear Tape File System (LTFS) Format Specification. (PDF; 3.42 MB) (No longer available online.) Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Quantum, archived from the original on July 17, 2011 ; accessed on May 22, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b IBM TS2280 Tape Drive . Retrieved October 13, 2017.
- ↑ a b c assuming 2: 1 compression, from LTO-6 2.5: 1
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae What is LTO Technology? . Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Quantum. Retrieved February 6, 2015
- ↑ a b c d e f HPE LTO Ultrium Storage Supplies (QuickSpecs). December 16, 2019, accessed June 23, 2020 .
- ↑ Michael Riepe: IBM introduces LTO-4 tape drives. In: heise online. April 26, 2007. Retrieved August 14, 2009 .
- ↑ Boi Feddern: LTO-5 tapes with 1.6 terabytes announced. In: heise online. August 13, 2009. Retrieved August 14, 2009 .
- ↑ LTO-5 tapes and drives released . golem.de Retrieved March 29, 2010.
- ↑ Storage Newsletter June 2012
- ↑ "LTO PROGRAM ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF ULTRIUM FORMAT GENERATION 6 TECHNOLOGY LICENSES" ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file; 45 kB) on lto.org
- ↑ New generation of tapes with 2.5 TByte available . golem.de Retrieved December 18, 2012.
- ^ "THE LTO PROGRAM ANNOUNCES UPCOMING GENERATION 7 SPECIFICATIONS FOR LICENSING" Retrieved October 7, 2015
- ↑ Tape storage: First LTO-7 drives for 6 TB tapes. Accessed October 9, 2015
- ↑ Datasheet Scalar i500. In: www.quantum.com. Quantum Corporation, accessed January 2, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c Magnetic tapes: Fujifilm is promising 400 Tbyte tapes. In: Heise online . . Retrieved July 6, 2020.
- ↑ LTO specifications at lto.org ( Memento of the original from May 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Eric Slack: National Geographic uses T950 for their Big Data Archive . Storage Switzerland, LLC. October 25, 2011.
- ↑ Technical data from Fujifilm . Fujifilm. Retrieved July 16, 2012
- ↑ 485 kbit / in LTO Ultrium 7 . Sony. April 4, 2016. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
