Cartridges; Choosing Cartridges; Labeling Cartridges; Write-Protecting Cartridges - HP LTO Ultrium Technical Reference Manual

5 Cartridges

Choosing cartridges

HP recommends HP LTO-5 Ultrium 3000 GB (2:1 compression) cartridges.
HP LTO Ultrium drives will also support other lower capacity HP and non-HP LTO Ultrium cartridges
but the performance of your drive may be restricted. Data transfer rates will be slower on LTO Ultrium
4 1600 GB cartridges compared to LTO Ultrium 5 3000 GB cartridges. Do not use HP DLTIIItape or
DLTIVtape cartridges. The size and shape of LTO Ultrium media is very similar to that of DLT cartridges
in order to make it easy for automation/library vendors to integrate LTO Ultrium into existing DLT
libraries. Compatible media can be recognized by the LTO Ultrium logo, which is the same as the
logo on the front of your drive.
NOTE:
HP LTO Ultrium 5 tape drives are not compatible with LTO Ultrium 1 or 2 media, which will be rejected
as unsupported. The Tape Error LED will light.
HP recommends HP LTO Ultrium cartridges as follows:
• LTO Ultrium 5 3000 GB RW for multiple reading and writing
• LTO Ultrium 5 3000 GB WORM cartridges. WORM (Write-Once, Read-Many) cartridges guard
against accidental or malicious alteration of data on the tape cartridge. You can append data to
a WORM data cartridge to use the full capacity but not erase or overwrite existing data. WORM
data cartridges have a distinctive, two-tone cartridge color. To check whether your backup or
archive software application supports WORM cartridges, refer to the web site:
connect.

Labeling cartridges

Write-protecting cartridges

If you want to protect the data on a cartridge from being altered or overwritten, you can write-protect
the cartridge. Do this before you load the cartridge into the drive. If you slide the write-protect tab
after the cartridge is inserted in the drive, the change will not take effect until the cartridge is ejected
and reloaded, and you will damage the tape drive.
The label and write-protect switch are on the rear face of the cartridge, as
illustrated.
Never use non-standard labels, and never stick anything to the cartridge other
than in the label area.
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