Data storage analysts and pundits have been predicting the demise of backup tape storage for years. But even though the use backup tape storage is declining, according
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magazine's Purchasing Intensions survey last spring, 19% of respondents said they still plan to
increase
their use of tape. Recent advancements in the latest addition of the LTO tape format, LTO-5
may breathe new life into this so-called dying technology. LTO-5 tape cartridges have twice the
capacity of LTO-4 tape, holding 1.5 TB native and 3 TB compressed data. The data transfer rate
increases from 120 MBps to 140 MBps native, and 240 MBps to 280 MBps compressed.
To help you stay up to date on the latest news and information on LTO-5 tape drives and tape storage, we've collected our top five tips on LTO-5. Learn whether or not LTO-5 is right for your business, LTO-5 tape specifications and pricing, and what users are saying about the switch to LTO-5.
TIP #1-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here
comes LTO-5 tape technology, ready or not
Is the enterprise data storage market ready and does anyone really need the kind of capability
offered in LTO-5? William R. Qualls, director of magnetic tape at Imation Corp., says yes. In his
view, higher capacity gives organizations a chance to keep the same physical footprint while
keeping up with the doubling of data that happens every two years, on average. However, other users
and analysts are more cautious. Learn about LTO-5
tape technology and whether or not it is a good choice for your businesses in this article.
TIP #2-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quantum,
Overland get LTO-5 tape backup ball rolling
Quantum Corp. recently announced general availability of LTO-5 tape autoloaders, drives and media,
and launched an early customer adoption program of LTO-5 for its Scalar tape libraries. In
addition, Overland Storage rolled out an E Series of its NEO tape libraries with LTO-5. LTO-5 has
backwards compatible read-and-write capabilities with LTO-4
to make for smooth upgrades. However, LTO-5 only has read capabilities with LTO-3,
which could make it a bit trickier to upgrade from older tape systems. In this article, read about
Quantum
and Overland's LTO-5 tape backup products and read about other LTO-5 tape announcements in
these data
backup news briefs.
TIP #3-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LTO
tape continues to evolve with LTO-5
W. Curtis Preston, TechTarget executive editor and
independent backup expert, outlines how LTO tape differs from other tape media, discusses the
various generations of LTO tape, and the pros and cons of LTO-5 in this guide. Learn the
differences between LTO-5 and LTO-4, and how LTO
tape continues to evolve with LTO-5 in this LTO FAQ guide.
TIP #4-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hewlett-Packard
launches LTO-5 tape
Hewlett-Packard (HP) Co. recently launched its first set of LTO-5 tape products, bringing out LTO-5
tape
libraries, drives and cartridges, as well as TapeAssure, a new free software utility that
proactively monitors the health and performance of tape devices. The LTO-5 tape cartridges cost
$168.50 for a rewriteable cartridge and $185 for a WORM version. New drives are list priced at
$3,559, while a kit to upgrade an existing MSL to LTO-5 is list priced at $12,000. In addition, new
MSL 2024 LTO-5 tape libraries start at $9,000. HP's EML and ESL enterprise tape silos and low-end
autoloaders will add LTO-5
support around midyear. Learn everything about HP's
LTO-5 tape products in this article.
TIP #5-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tape
backup and recovery tutorial
W. Curtis Preston gives you the skinny on tape backup in this tutorial. What role should tape play
in your backup plan? How do you choose the right tape library for your enterprise? And how do you
take care of magnetic media and backup tapes? Get the answers to all of your tape storage questions
in this tutorial on tape
backup and recovery.
Editor's tip: For even more information on LTO-5 and tape backup and recovery, bookmark
our special section on tape backup
and tape library news, trends and tips.
This was first published in April 2010
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