Tape storage is a technology that uses magnetic tape as a storage medium for digital data. Tape has been used for data storage since the early days of computing in the 1950s. It continues to be used today, especially for backup and archiving purposes.
What are the main characteristics of tape storage?
Here are some of the key characteristics of tape storage:
- High capacity – Modern tape cartridges can store multiple terabytes of data on a single cartridge.
- Portability – Tape cartridges are small and portable, making them easy to transport offsite for backup and archiving.
- Durability – Tape media can have a shelf life of 30 years or more if stored properly.
- Low cost – The cost per gigabyte of tape storage is very low compared to disk and cloud storage.
- Sequential access – Tape is designed for sequential access, which makes it better for sequential reading and writing of large blocks of data.
What are the different types of tape formats?
There are several major tape formats used for data storage:
- LTO (Linear Tape Open) – An open tape format developed in the late 1990s as an open standard alternative to proprietary formats. LTO is the most popular tape format today, currently in its 9th generation (LTO-9).
- DLT (Digital Linear Tape) – An earlier tape tech developed in the 1980s, now discontinued.
- AIT (Advanced Intelligent Tape) – An alternative format by Sony used for backup and archiving. Up to AIT-5.
- DAT (Digital Audio Tape) – Originally designed for audio storage, DAT also gained usage for data backup.
- 3592 – IBM’s proprietary enterprise tape format offering very high capacities.
- Oracle T10000 – Another proprietary format by Oracle focused on high capacity and performance.
Of these, LTO is by far the most common and widely supported tape technology today.
What are the main uses of tape storage?
Here are the major use cases for tape storage in computing today:
- Backup – Tape is heavily used for backup due to its portability, long shelf life, and low cost.
- Archiving – Tape is ideal for storing large amounts of infrequently accessed “cold” data for long-term archival purposes.
- Disaster recovery – Tape’s portability enables offsite storage for disaster recovery preparations.
- Big data – Storing huge volumes of scientific, research, or media data that needs long-term archiving.
- Data preservation – Tape’s long shelf life makes it well-suited for preserving data for decades.
What are the advantages of tape storage?
Here are some of the key advantages of using tape for data storage:
- High capacity – Single LTO-9 tapes can store 18 TB uncompressed, while enterprise tapes like 3592 can store up to 15 TB per cartridge.
- Reliability – Modern tape drives have very low error rates and when errors occur, built-in ECC enables reliable data recovery.
- Portability – Tape cartridges are small and do not require power when not in use, making them easy to transport and store offsite.
- Longevity – Tape properly stored can retain data for 30 years or more, ideal for long-term archiving.
- Energy efficiency – Tape consumes very little power when not actively being accessed.
- Encryption – Native data encryption capabilities to enhance security.
What are the disadvantages of tape storage?
Tape also comes with some downsides and limitations, including:
- Sequential access – Tape can only be read or written sequentially from start to end, not randomly accessed like disk or SSD.
- Slow seek times – Seeking to different positions on tape is slow compared to disk.
- Compression – Most tape formats require compression to reach maximum capacities, adding CPU overhead.
- No in-place updates – Existing data cannot be overwritten on tape, an entire block must be rewritten.
- Mechanical fragility – The drive mechanisms and tapes themselves are mechanically fragile compared to solid-state storage media.
What are some examples of tape storage devices and media?
Here are some examples of common tape storage products and formats:
- LTO tape drives from vendors like IBM, Dell, HP, Quantum – Using LTO-8 or LTO-9 tape cartridges
- Oracle T10000 tape drives – Using Oracle’s T10000 enterprise tape cartridges
- IBM TS1155 tape drive – Uses 3592 JC tape media
- Qualstar RLS-8500 tape library – Supports LTO tapes for automated backups
- Sony ODA-D290 optical disc archive – Uses specialized optical discs for long-term storage
- AIT Turbo drives and media – Used AIT-5 tapes for backup and archiving
The most widely used tape media currently is LTO with LTO-8 (12TB native) and LTO-9 (18TB native) being the latest generations. Enterprise tape formats like 3592 offer even higher capacities but at higher costs.
What are some key tape storage vendors and manufacturers?
Here are some of the major vendors providing tape storage products and solutions today:
- IBM – Leading tape vendor, offers LTO drives, enterprise 3592 drives, tape libraries and software.
- HPE – Enterprise tape drives and libraries, LTO products, formerly owned HP tape business.
- Oracle – Makes high-end T10000 tape drives and media for enterprise use.
- Dell – Resells HPE and IBM tape drives and libraries with support.
- Quantum – Backup solutions including LTO tape drives and libraries.
- Spectra Logic – Specialized in tape libraries for backup and archiving.
- Qualstar – Manufactures automated tape libraries using LTO and enterprise tape drives.
- FUJIFILM – Major global manufacturer of LTO magnetic tape media.
How does LTO technology and roadmap compare to enterprise tape formats?
Here is a high-level comparison between LTO and enterprise tape technologies:
| Attribute | LTO | Enterprise Tape (3592, T10000, etc) |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Lower | Higher acquisition cost |
| Capacity | Up to 18TB native compressed (LTO-9) | Up to 60TB compressed (TS1160) |
| Performance | Up to 1000 MB/sec (LTO-9) | Up to 500 MB/sec (TS1160) |
| Use cases | Backup, archiving | High-capacity enterprise backup, archiving |
| Adoption | Widely adopted industry standard | Proprietary formats, lower adoption |
In summary, LTO provides a widely supported, cost-effective tape storage solution while enterprise formats like 3592 offer higher capacity and performance but at higher cost and proprietary formats.
What are some best practices for using tape in a storage environment?
Some best practices for effectively leveraging tape storage include:
- Use LTO for backup and archiving where capacity needs are under 10-20TB.
- Reserve enterprise tape formats for overflow archiving or backups over 10-20TB.
- Store 2-3 copies of backup tapes offsite for disaster recovery.
- Align capacity plans with LTO roadmap for future growth.
- Implement tape rotation and migration policies to preserve long-term archives.
- Encrypt tape data whether on-site or off-site for security.
- Leverage tape virtualization software to simplify management at scale.
- Validate tape backups periodically by performing test restores.
What trends and innovations are shaping the future of tape storage?
Some key trends for the future of tape storage include:
- Continued exponential growth in tape capacity – LTO-10 will offer up to 80TB compressed per cartridge.
- Higher tape drive performance – LTO-10 will boost throughput up to 2.4 GB/sec native.
- Wider adoption of the LTFS format – Allows accessing tape like disk via tape file systems.
- Hybrid flash/tape backup systems – Combining tape and flash for faster backup and recovery.
- Ransomware protection features – Using immutable storage and air-gap disconnect.
- Optical tape hybrids – New optical tape drives that combine advantages of both.
- DNA storage on tape – Using DNA to archive data for thousands of years.
- Shingled magnetic tape – Increasing capacity by overlapping tracks like SMR HDDs.
What are the typical steps to implement and configure a tape backup solution?
Implementing a tape backup environment involves these key steps:
- Select tape drive format based on capacity, performance and budget needs – LTO or enterprise.
- Choose tape library for automation requirements – number of tapes, slots, infrastructure integration.
- Select backup software compatible with tape drives/library – supports device drivers, multiplexing, etc.
- Define backup policies and schedules – retention periods, overlapping full/incremental backups, etc.
- Provision tapes or cartridges for backup cycles – daily, weekly, monthly, yearly.
- Configure tape drive and library – device drivers, cleaning schedules, slots, drives.
- Schedule periodic test restores to validate backup integrity.
- Monitor utilization metrics – capacity, mount counts, errors, etc.
- Maintain spare parts, media supplies, support contracts.
How can you monitor and maintain a tape infrastructure?
Proper monitoring and maintenance practices for tape storage include:
- Periodically cleaning tape drives according to manufacturer recommended cleaning frequency.
- Checking tape drive utilization metrics – mount counts, duty cycle, errors.
- Monitoring media health with tape drive logs – soft errors, hard errors, ECC corrections, etc.
- Replacing worn out tape media based on usage, duty cycles, age.
- Qualifying and testing new tape generations before deployment.
- Maintaining accurate tape catalog/inventory with automated libraries.
- Performing proactive preventative maintenance based on usage, runtime.
- Checking backup software logs for read/write errors needing tape drive recalibration.
- Validating capacity utilization to plan for future media needs.
- Retiring and destroying expired media securely.
What are some challenges with managing tape at scale?
Some key challenges with scaling and managing large tape environments include:
- Tracking hundreds or thousands of tapes spanning multiple locations.
- Migrating data to new media generations across huge tape libraries.
- Costly manual labor to physically handle large tape volumes.
- Meeting recovery time/data access objectives with sequentially accessed media.
- Dealing with degraded/inconsistent performance as tape drives age.
- Finding floor space for storage silos and infrastructure at petabyte scale.
- Lengthy time to rebuild failed large-scale tape libraries.
- Administrative complexity managing multiple incompatible tape formats.
- Difficulty recycling or disposing of end-of-life tapes securely.
Conclusion
In summary, tape storage provides a reliable, cost-effective solution for backup, archiving and disaster recovery uses cases, especially at large scales. LTO tapes offer a widely supported mid-range storage capacity tier, while enterprise formats like 3592 push capacities higher. Tape technology continues to evolve with higher capacities and performance on the horizon. But inherent limitations around access latency, mechanical fragility and management complexity at scale remain challenges with tape storage implementations. With thoughtful planning, maintenance and monitoring, organizations can efficiently leverage tape as part of a modern storage infrastructure.