Tape back-up media in bulk

Blank Backup tape media might not seem very important in the big scheme of things but it's the insurance policy for all your backup data. Regardless if you are looking for blank tape media for a new tape backup system or you are retiring your old tapes and need to replace them. Depending on how many off-site copies you need it's a a good idea to keep a few extra tapes around too.

The typical tape backup scheme (the backup strategy using incremental and full backups) is the Grandfather-father-son which requires twelve tapes. Another popular rotation scheme is the Six-Cartridge Weekly Backup Principle. It is a simpler and more cost effective implementation of Grandfather-Father-Son is called the Six Cartridge Weekly Backup. Effective for small businesses, this backup principle requires daily backups and a single weekly off-site backup copy to provide a data history of up to two weeks. Friday backups are full backups. Monday through Thursday backups are incremental. The other popular tape rotation scheme is called "Tower of Hanoi". With the Tower of Hanoi, four media sets are used and are labeled as "A," "B," "C," or "D." The number of tapes in each media set will vary depending on the amount of data you are backing up.

We carry a wide range of backup tape media including AIT, DLT, LTO and all the super versions too.

Linear Tape-Open (LTO) technology was developed jointly by HP, IBM and Quantum to provide a clear and viable choice in backup tape storage options. The Ultrium format is the high-capacity, single-reel implementation of LTO Technology. It is ideally suited for backup, restore and archive applications and provides excellent performance and reliability in both stand-alone and automated environments. It is the preferred format when capacity and high streaming data rates are the key storage consideration. LTO Ultrium technology is an "open format" technology, which means that users will have multiple sources of product and media. The "open" nature of LTO technology also provides a means of enabling compatibility between different vendors' offerings. An Ultrium format Generation 4 cartridge has a capacity of up to 1.6 TB (2:1 compression) and up to 800 GB native, while the Ultrium format Generation 3 has a capacity of up to 800 GB (2:1 compression) and up to 400 GB native. Capacity for LTO Ultrium Generation 2 format cartridges reaches up to 400 GB (2:1 compression) and up to 200 GB native.

Digital Linear Tape (DLT) is a backup tape storage technology developed by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and purchased by Quantum Corp. who currently licenses the technology and trademark. Unlike other tape technologies DLT uses a 1/2 tape (as opposed to a 8mm tape)Which is about 60% wider then 8mm. This means you can store more data on half-inch tape then other smaller formats.

DLTtape drives read and write data in a linear pattern on the tape. That is, each data track goes the entire length of the tape. When data is being recorded, the first set of tracks is recorded on the whole length of the tape. When the end of the tape is reached, the heads are repositioned to record a new set of tracks, and the tape is again recorded on its whole length,this time in the opposite direction. That process continues, back and forth, until the tape is full.

Current DLTtape drives record either 128 tracks (DLT 4000 drives), 168 tracks (DLT1 drives), 208 tracks (DLT 7000 and DLT 8000 drives), or 448 tracks (SuperDLTtape drives) on half-inch tape. By comparison, helical scan systems record data in diagonal stripes across the tape. This diagonal pattern allows data tracks to be overlapped for very high data density. One of the drawbacks of such high density is the increasing difficulty it introduces in error detection and correction. Even a very small defect on a helical-scan tape will probably corrupt the data, because such a large amount of data is squeezed into a very small linear space.

Sony Advanced Intelligent Tape (AIT) technology has been a leader in back-up tape for a number of years. AIT uses a 8mm tape, 3.5 inch drive form-factor and a drive mechanism that utilizes helical-scan recording, unique Memory-in-Cassette (MIC) architecture (R-MIC is a non-volatile chip built into the data cartridge that provides quick media loads and allows fast searches to data. The R-MIC chip contains the tape's system log, search map and user-definable information, allowing the drive to advance at a high speed directly to any file on the tape), advanced read/write head technology and the exclusive use of Advanced Metal Evaporated (AME) media.

These characteristics result in high capacity and performance, outstanding reliability, fast data search and superior data protection through the use of Write-Once-Read-Many (WORM) capability. Sony AIT backup tape drives are also designed for backwards compatibility (AIT-5 compatible with AIT-4 AIT-3EX, AIT-3. AIT-4 compatible with AIT-3EX. AIT-3EX compatible with AIT-3 and AIT Turbo Series E, 1 and 2). Benefits include: Enables WORM protected backup on tape, which is ideal for - compliance storage, enables encryption for compliance related, greater tape head durability,Shoe-shining is minimize compared to linear tape formats, one pass to fill the tape cartridge contributes to reliable operation and exceptional reliability enabled by minimizing tape tension, compared to Linear Tape formats. Sony also co-developed the 4mm DDS tape format which was originally based on the DAT (Digital Audio Tape) Standard.