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Viper 200 LTO Product Manual
Ultrium tape format
This chapter summarizes the features and benefits of the LTO tape formats, and of
the Ultrium tape cartridges.
Overview of LTO tape formats
Ultrium is one of two LTO tape formats. Like DLT tapes, LTO tapes are recorded
using a linear serpentine recording technique. However, the LTO specification has
improved this recording technique in many ways:
Cartridge memory: All LTO tape cartridges contain a small nonvolatile-memory
chip, called the LTO-CM. The LTO-CM is used to store information about the location
of data on the cartridge, as well as the condition of the cartridge itself (manufacturing
information, number of times the cartridge has been loaded, written, and read, the
last drive to write or read the cartridge, etc.). Tape drives can read this information
almost instantaneously to locate data on the tape. Tape library systems can read this
information without even loading the tape into a drive mechanism, since the LTO-CM
chip communicates with the LTO drive or library controller through a tiny radio-
frequency interface.
More recording channels per tape: Most existing linear tape formats use 4
recording channels. First-generation LTO tapes will have 8 channels, allowing native
data transfer rates of 10 to 20 Mbytes per second. Subsequent generations of tape
will have 16 channels, and will be even faster.
Higher recording density: The LTO specification allows higher recording densities
than any existing linear tape products. Further increases in recording density are
possible in the future because the LTO tape specification is optimized for magneto-
resistive (MR) tape heads.
Ultrium technology overview
The Ultrium tape format is optimized to store as much data as possible. Even the first
generation Ultrium tape provides up to 100 Gbytes of uncompressed data storage--
more than any other product in its class.
The Ultrium format achieves this high capacity by using long (600-meter) and wide
(1/2-inch) tape media. Data is recorded in 384 tracks, grouped in four bands, each
bounded by two servo tracks, for extreme reliability.
The Ultrium cartridge
The Ultrium tape cassette uses just one tape reel, instead of two. This maximizes the
amount of tape that can fit in a single cartridge, since space within the cartridge is
taken up by the tape, not by tape reels.
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