{"id":76368,"date":"2021-08-17T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-17T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/?p=76368"},"modified":"2022-12-20T14:01:23","modified_gmt":"2022-12-20T20:01:23","slug":"what-is-lto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/76368-what-is-lto\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is LTO? And, When Do You Need It?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"OWC<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

UPDATED<\/strong> 9\/1\/2022 to reflect information on LTO Generation 9.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Businesses and corporations alike have turned to LTO for long-term storage and archival. What is LTO? And, when do you need it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linear Tape-Open, or LTO for short, is a tape-based data system specifically designed to store and retrieve files. LTO media offers massive storage capacities, with the current generation holding 18TB per tape. The tapes themselves have a shelf life of over 30 years. So, when do you know when you need LTO? Read on as we discuss some of LTO\u2019s advantages for data storage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hard drives are not perfect (for archival) <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Traditional hard disk storage offers many benefits. HDDs feature massive capacities, up to 18TB in size, and the drives are low-cost. However, hard drives have some serious drawbacks: potential for mechanical failure, fragile components, weight, heat generation, and limited overall shelf life of approximately seven years. Think about how devastating it would be to lose 18TB of data at once from a single failure! While hard drives remain an excellent choice for storage for current projects, they are not ideal as a long-term solution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Network-attached storage, also known as a NAS, is often used for archiving projects. Networked storage is designed for high-speed collaboration and is not an ideal format for long-term storage. To keep your NAS at peak performance, it is best to archive projects upon completion and not keep drives filled to capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What Makes LTO Ideal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Chart<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Many working professionals rely on tape-based data storage on a daily basis. Tape-based storage is a tried-and-true medium that is as old as computing itself. After years of competition in the storage space, IBM, HP, and Quantum formed an open-source project called the LTO Consortium<\/strong><\/a>. This body of engineers works in collaboration to improve LTO standards. Since 2000, LTO quickly became the tape format of choice for the computing industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The LTO Workflow<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

How the tape drive works: If you are using an LTFS or an LTFS-based application, LTO media mounts onto a Mac just like any external hard drive or network volume. The Finder \u201csees\u201d the tape as storage. While you can interact with the LTO at the Finder level\u2014copying files by dragging to the LTO or retrieving by dumping onto the desktop\u2014you\u2019ll want to use an LTO application for interacting with the tape. LTO software like\u00a0OWC ArGest Backup<\/a>\u00a0will build catalogs of your data for easier, automated retrieval. When you\u2019re done, just drag the LTO icon on your desktop to the trash bin in the dock, and the tape ejects from the drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An LTO workflow consists of three components<\/strong>: an LTO machine to read and write tapes, an interface to connect the machine to a computer, and the LTO tape media. The machine hardware is minimal and looks very much like a desktop hard drive enclosure or a small computer tower. Tapes are loaded in the front of the machine via a mechanical slot, just like a VCR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Thunderbolt<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Thunderbolt is an especially convenient way to interface with LTO hardware. OWC\u2019s\u00a0Mercury Pro LTO<\/a>\u00a0features an LTO machine with a Thunderbolt interface in a single package. Simply plug into a Thunderbolt 3 Apple Mac or Thunderbolt 3 enabled Windows PC, install the device drivers and system tools needed by your system, and you are ready to start reading and writing tapes! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt or Thunderbolt 2 adapters are also compatible with the OWC Mercury Pro LTO. Since Thunderbolt runs on a bus, you can daisy-chain a display off of the LTO hardware by using the included display-port connection. Thunderbolt is not the only interface that LTO drives support; SAS connections are very common on tower-based systems. However, the Thunderbolt-enabled LTO machines are more convenient because no additional hardware purchases are required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LTO media is specifically designed to house data for long periods of time and have a shelf life of 30 years. The tapes are about 10cm (4in) in size and look like a cross-over between a cassette tape and a floppy disk. The current generation of LTO hardware and tapes is referred to as LTO-9. LTO-9 media have storage capacities of 18TB. At this time of writing, an 18TB LTO tape is less than one-half the cost of a 18TB HDD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What are LTO generations? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every few years, a new generation of readers and media is released. LTO-1 was introduced in the year 2000 and supported 100GB per tape. LTO-8 was introduced in 2017 with support for 12TB per tape. An LTO-8 machine can read and write the current generation and one previous generation of media, which are LTO-7 and LTO-8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LTO-9 was announced in 2020 with support for 18TB per tape, a 50% increase over LTO-8. LTO-9 supports one generation of backward compatibility, making it capable of reading and writing to LTO-8 cartridges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 3-2-1 Rule of Backup<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To minimize potential data failures, production companies like Netflix have adopted the 3-2-1 Rule. This entails:<\/p>\n\n\n\n