Tape libraries

Removable storage media used in devices such as tape libraries are an excellent medium for storing backups - data backups and data archives. The most popular removable storage medium is still magnetic tape. Tape media is at present practically the only medium that guarantees safe storage of data for a long period of time, even more than 30 years. LTO technology is currently the standard in the global market for the development of tape libraries. The latest version: LTO-9 offers a very high capacity of a single backup tape: 18 TB of data without compression, and 45 TB with data compression averaging 2.5:1.

Magnetic tapes - what are the advantages of a tape library based on them?

• Magnetic tape - is an interchangeable medium, unlike permanently mounted media (e.g. HDD) is characterized by the possibility of easy transportation and storage in a safe place;
• when removed from the drive, there is no possibility of changes to the record - malicious modification, blocking or destruction of data is excluded - the so-called Air gap;
• The state-of-the-art LTO tape is housed in a handy and durable cassette, which ensures reliable protection of protected data from external influences during transport, use and storage;
• Magnetic tape (such as FujiFilm's LTO tape) offers the possibility of 30 years of archival data storage;
• is characterized by minimal read and write errors when backing up data.
• special system of archive data validation and media life management, used and available in tape libraries

Single tape drives using LTO technology are available on the market, as well as automated solutions - the tape library. They are equipped with one to several dozen tape drives and up to several hundred tape cartridge bays/magazines.

Tape library - Faster than a hard drive

The speed of data transfer from tape drives has long surpassed that of individual hard drives and is more than 1TB/hr for a single LTO-8 tape drive. New types of LTO media are even more efficient, and for this reason magnetic tape is even ideal as a data storage medium for archiving.

RDX devices, storage solutions using hard drives with removable cartridges, have also been on the market for almost 10 years. With a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface, it enables performance of up to 180MB/s combining the advantages of disk and tape storage at a competitive price. They make the tape library more efficient and secure at the same time.

Example tape libraries

A textbook example of tape library solutions from Magstor include 1-drive autoloaders for 8 slots and 24-slot libraries for up to 2 drives. Also available are scalable tape libraries from 32 to 560 slots and up to 42 LTO drives. Even libraries of this size offer the ability to store several hundred TB of data.

Tape libraries for the most demanding

If that's not enough, Spectra Logic offers tape libraries with virtually unlimited scalability and more than 10,000 slots and more than 1,000 drives. The maximum capacities offered by magnetic tape in this case are counted in tens or even hundreds of PB. All tape libraries use LTO-7, LTO-8 and LTO-9 technology, SAS or FC connection interfaces.

RDX - advantages

• Wide range of capacities: Magnetic tape-based hard drive with capacities ranging from 500GB to 5TB on a single cartridge.
• RDX tape libraries guarantee fast access to data: High transfer rates and fast access times typical of disk drives allowing for backup performance of 162GB/hr and near-instant file recovery.
• Interface: SATA, USB 3.0 or USB 3+ (no separate power cable).
• More secure tape library - archival life longer than 10 years.
• Shock-resistant design: Highly durable cartridge.

RDX - The reliability of magnetic tape and the simplicity of a hard drive

RDX combines the portability and reliability of tape-based backup with the speed and simplicity of hard drives. The compact internal or external drives use pocket-sized RDX cartridges. Each tape cartridge is a rugged, miniature hard drive; the computer recognizes it seamlessly and allows instant access and easy control using drag-and-drop functionality.

There are also networked libraries with 4 or 8 removable disk media RDX QuikStation designed to provide data protection in small and medium enterprise and large corporate environments. They are connected via an IT LAN and use the iSCSI protocol. They can emulate a single large removable disk or tape library

There is still a sizable group of users storing data on CD/DVD/Bluray optical media, using optical duplicators to store data. We also offer optical libraries, so-called jukeboxes equipped with several DVD/Blu-ray drives and magazines for several hundred CD/DVD/Blu-ray discs.

This group of products is based on the companies' solutions:

Fujifilm | MagStor | Qualstar