Maxell's line of LTO Ultrium tape cartridges are offered in generations 1, 2, 3, and 4; with raw capacities of from 100 to 800 GB (200 GB to 1.6 TB compressed, assuming 2:1 compression).

The LTO (Linear Tape-Open) specification was developed jointly by HP, IBM, and Quantum and is offered as an open specification for the creation of a cross-vendor compatible tape-medium for the storage of digital information. Initially, the group defined a roadmap that consisted of four generations of the tape format; with each new generation appearing approximately every 18 to 24 months and doubling total storage capacity. The specification also calls for a level of backwards compatibility with previous generations of LTO tapes - an LTO tape drive must be able to read data from LTO tapes of the current and the previous two generations, and write data to tapes in the current and previous generation. When reading/writing data to tapes in previous generations, the drives must utilize the data format of that previous generation. The Ultrium format is the "high capacity" implementation of LTO technology.

In late 2004, the original 4 generation roadmap was extended to include a proposed 5th and 6th generation of the tapes; with capacities extending to a native 3.2 TB in LTO Ultrium 6 tapes.

The Maxell LTO Ultrium tape cartridge family ranges over LTO generations 1 through 4; with capacities of from 100 to 800 GB and transfer rates of from 20 to 120 MB/sec (all native data rates; 2:1 compression would double each of the numbers). The product line features the vendor's Ceramic Armor Metal Particles technology; in brief, the tape includes pure iron metal particles that are themselves coated with a ceramic layer (10 millionths of a millimeter) to defend against oxidation of the metal. The vendor states that the use of the ceramic layer enables a minimum layer thickness while retaining the magnetic energy of the pure iron particles.

Other features of the tapes include:

- Color coding by generation; each successive generation of LTO cartridge is packaged in a differently colored cartridge

- Durability rating of better than 1,000,000 head passes and storage rating of better than 30 years (the vendor's FAQ recommends that tapes be replaced after 250 full backups)

- Both standard and WORM cartridges available in the LTO 3 and 4 cartridges

- A built-in 4K memory chip to store historical usage records

New to the Maxell LTO Ultrium line is the LTO Cartridge Memory (CM) Analyzer, which seeks to inform organizations if a cartridge is no longer fit for service. The CM Analyzer connects via USB to a Windows machine; and the cartridge to be tested is placed on top of it. The CM Analyzer then reads the embedded memory chip of the cartridge, reporting such metrics as the percentage of records in error, number of loads, cartridge age, and details pertaining to the last 4 uses of the cartridge. The CM Analyzer allows for the saving of scanned information; i.e., the memory contents can be saved and automatically appended to any previous scans for the cartridge, enabling the storing of a full history for each cartridge. From this data, the product tallies a "MaxellScore"--a number from 1 (worse) to 100 (best)--that indicates the overall health of the cartridge.

Maxell's LTO Ultrium tape cartridges are available now. The Cartridge Memory Analyzer is expected to be available on January 1st with a price tag of #1,435.

Visit the vendor's Web site for further information.

product submission by EITPlanet Staff

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