Data Cartridge - IBM L5X Installation And User Manual

Data cartridge

All generations of IBM Ultrium data cartridges contain 1/2-inch, dual-coat,
metal-particle tape. When processing tape in the cartridges, Ultrium tape drives
use a linear, serpentine recording format.
Each generation of data cartridge is identified by case color, native data capacity,
recording format, and nominal cartridge life.
Data cartridge Case color
Ultrium 5 Burgundy
Ultrium 4 Green
Ultrium 3 Slate blue
Ultrium 2 Purple
Ultrium 1 Black
1
The first set of tracks (16 for Ultrium 5, 4 and 3; 8 for Ultrium 2 and 1) is written from near the beginning of the
tape to near the end of the tape. The head then repositions to the next set of tracks for the return pass. This process
continues until all tracks are written and the cartridge is full, or until all data is written.
Cartridge Memory chip (LTO-CM)
All generations of IBM LTO Ultrium data cartridges include a Linear Tape-Open
Cartridge Memory (LTO-CM) chip (see Figure 9 on page 41), that contains
information about the cartridge and the tape (such as the name of the
manufacturer that created the tape), as well as statistical information about the
cartridge use. The LTO-CM enhances the efficiency of the cartridge. For example,
the LTO-CM stores the end-of-data location which, when the next time this
cartridge is inserted and the WRITE command is issued, enables the drive to
quickly locate the recording area and begin recording.
The LTO-CM also aids in determining the reliability of the cartridge by storing
data about its age, how many times it has been loaded, and how many errors it
has accumulated. Whenever a tape cartridge is unloaded, the tape drive writes any
pertinent information to the cartridge memory.
The storage capacity of the LTO Generation 4 and 5 LTO-CM is 8,160 bytes. LTO
Generations 1, 2, and 3 have an LTO-CM capacity of 4,096 bytes.
Write-protect switch
The position of the write-protect switch on the tape cartridge (see Figure 9 on page
41) determines whether you can write to the tape.
If possible, use your server application software to write-protect your cartridges
(rather than manually setting the write-protect switch). This allows the server
software to identify a cartridge that no longer contains current data and is eligible
to become a scratch (blank) data cartridge. Do not write-protect scratch (blank)
cartridges; the tape drive will not be able to write new data to them.
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Half-High LTO Gen 5 SAS Tape Drive Installation and User's Guide
Native data
capacity
1,500 GB (3,000 GB Reads and writes data on 1280
at 2:1 compression) tracks, 16 tracks at a time
800 GB (1,600 GB at Reads and writes data on 896
2:1 compression) tracks, 16 tracks at a time
400 GB (800 GB at Reads and writes data on 704
2:1 compression) tracks, 16 tracks at a time
200 GB (400 GB at Reads and writes data on 512
2:1 compression) tracks, 8 tracks at a time
100 GB (200 GB at Reads and writes data on 384
2:1 compression) tracks, 8 tracks at a time
1
Recording format
Nominal cartridge life
(load/unload cycles)
20,000
20,000
20,000
10,000
5,000