Maxell Super DLT II Supplementary Manual

A WestWorld Productions, Inc. Publication
2005 VOLUME XXV Number 3
Computer
TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS FOR SYSTEMS INTEGRATORS, VARS & OEMS
High Performance Media for High
By Rich D'Ambrise
N ew SDLT 600 tape drive
technology has imposed
new capacity and per-
formance demands on media
manufacturing processes. As
tape technology evolves, new
higher-performing magnetic
particles and tighter tolerances
must be developed to keep
pace with industry growth and
end user data management
needs.
To achieve the required
capacity and performance
targets, SDLT II media incor-
porates a broad range of
enhancements. The result is a
tape cartridge with vastly
improved magnetic perform-
ance and enhanced durability
to handle the demands of
Quantum's SDLTtape
drive technology.
SDLTtape II media is a
dual-coated media
employs a highly precise coat-
ing process to achieve a dura-
bility requirement of one mil-
lion head passes. This formu-
lation is based on a new ultra-
fine ceramic armor metal par-
ticle that is 40% smaller than
first-generation SDLTtape
Figure 1: Media composite
Technology
Performance Drives
media and possesses a higher
magnetic power of 2600 oer-
sted with superior archival
properties. The particles, uni-
form in shape and size, are less
than 60 nanometers long. By
contrast, the technology used
in Super DLTtape I media has
a particle size of 100nm. Each
metal particle is coated with a
thin ceramic layer to protect it
from corrosion and oxidation,
and provide advanced archival
storage durability.
To maximize the magnetic
performance of the particles,
new binder and base film com-
ponents were developed by
double-coating a base film
layer, wet on wet, with a thick
nonmagnetic protective layer
and an extremely thin magnet-
ic outer layer. The high-per-
600 formance binder system com-
bines two different binders
mixed with cross-linked mate-
that rial, allowing for a strong con-
nection of metal particle and
increased durability.
The recording layer is a
mixture of 80% magnetic par-
ticle and 20% binder materials.
The recording layer coating
includes head-cleaning agents
and two classes of lubricants to
minimize friction between the
tape and the read/write heads.
The combination of two lubri-
cants meet high-duty cycle
demands of SDLT 600 drives
by reducing tape and head
wear, and repelling airborne
debris that can clog the heads
and affect read/write perform-
ance.
The advanced tape coat-
ing technology is supported by
a new Super polyethylene
terephthalate (S-PET) base
film, a super-tensilized (pre-
stretched) version of the PET
base film used in SDLTtape I
media. S-PET's formulation
reduces the overall thickness
by 10% and contributes to
capacity improvement by
enabling an additional 200 feet
of tape inside SDLTtape II car-
tridges. The combination of
higher-performance metal par-
ticles, an enhanced binding
system, the ultra-smooth coat-
ing surface, and S-PET base
film allows Super DLTtape II
media to accept shorter wave-
length recording. This
achieves higher data density
and performance with better
signal response and improved
signal strength than Super
DLTtape I media or other tech-
nologies.
SDLT II media relies on
an extremely thin, smooth
backcoating layer to support
one of the SDLT's optical
servo positioning systems. The
common method of creating
servo-positioning tracks on the
tape is to embed magnetic
servo tracks between the data
tracks on the recording sur-
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face, reducing the physical
space available to write data.
SDLTtape II's servo design
leverages the Pivoting Optical
Servo (POS) technology intro-
duced with the first-generation
SDLTtape.
Instead of using conven-
tional magnetic servo technol-
ogy that is the norm with other
tape technologies, the back-
coat layer of Super DLTtape II
media is embedded with
microscopic optical servo
tracks which are read by a laser
to provide highly accurate
head positioning. This is a
necessity with the extreme
density of SDLT 600 drives.
Because of this unique design,
Super DLTtape II media is not
susceptible to high magnetic
fields that can impact tape car-
tridges with magnetic servo
positioning tracks. In fact,
media that rely on servo tracks
that have to be magnetically
preformatted at the factory can
be rendered inoperable, and
critical data lost forever by
such exposures.
The Future: Beyond
SDLTtape II
The enhancements represent-
ed by Super DLTtape II media
provide the technology base to
enable the next generation of
SDLT technology, expected to
provide a native capacity of
800GB and 1.6TB com-
pressed capacity per cartridge.
Figure 2 shows the next two
stops on the SDLT roadmap,
from SDLTII through to
SuperDLTS-5. Reaching these
capacities with yesterday's
®