Tape drives are data storage devices that use magnetic tape media for saving data. They have been used for decades for backup, archival, and data transfer applications. The maximum capacity of a tape drive depends on various factors like the physical length of the tape, track width, number of tracks, recording density, compression techniques etc. Over the years, innovations in these areas have enabled drive manufacturers to offer increasingly higher capacity tape drives.
Evolution of Tape Drive Capacities
In the early days of tape drives in the 1950s and 60s, capacities were in the few megabytes range. For instance, the IBM 729 series tape drives introduced in 1958 had a capacity of about 2.3MB per tape reel. In the 1970s and 80s, capacities moved into the 10s and 100s of MB with drives like the IBM 3480 cartridge with 200MB native capacity.
The next major milestone was when drives reached into gigabyte territory in the 1990s. Quantum’s DLT 4000 drive launched in 1993 offered 40GB compressed capacity. LTO technology, first introduced in 2000, brought capacities into the 100s of gigabytes. The first LTO Ultrium drive stored 100GB per cartridge.
In the 2000s, tape drive capacities entered the terabyte era. In 2006, StorageTek launched the T10000 drive and cartridge which had a native capacity of 500GB per cartridge. LTO roadmaps moved into the terabyte range as well with LTO-5 delivering 1.5TB in 2010. Quantum launched the DXi6700 in 2013 which could scale up to 1.6PB of usable capacity.
By the mid 2010s, companies were introducing drives with 10s of terabytes of capacity. Oracle announced the T10000D drive with 8.5TB capacity per cartridge in 2014. IBM and Fujifilm set a new record in 2014 by demonstrating a prototype tape with 220TB capacity. LTO-9 launched in 2017 could store 18TB of uncompressed data per cartridge.
Today, tape drive capacities have entered the 100s of terabytes range. The latest LTO-9 drive from IBM provides 45TB native capacity and 90TB compressed capacity per tape. Oracle’s highest capacity tape drive currently is the StorageTek T10000F drive which provides 60TB native and 150TB compressed capacity per cartridge.
Highest Capacity Tape Drives Today
Some of the highest capacity tape drives available today include:
- Oracle T10000F tape drive – offers native capacity up to 60TB and compressed capacity up to 150TB per cartridge
- IBM TS1160 tape drive – provides native capacity up to 20TB and compressed capacity up to 60TB per cartridge
- IBM 3592 Jaguar tape drive – offers native capacity up to 20TB depending on cartridge type
- Spectra Logic TFinity ExaScale Tape Library – provides capacity up to 10 exabytes in a single system
- IBM TS4300 Tape Library – scales up to 750PB in a single library
Oracle T10000F Tape Drive
The Oracle StorageTek T10000F tape drive provides the highest capacity among current tape drive products. It uses the Oracle Fujifilm FUJIFILM BaFe (Barium Ferrite) magnetic particle technology. The T10000F provides the following capacities:
- Native capacity: 60TB per cartridge
- Compressed capacity: 150TB per cartridge (assumes 2.5:1 compression ratio)
The increased capacity comes from a combination of the new BaFe particle technology along with enhanced read/write heads. The BaFe particles provide higher storage density compared to traditional metal particle (MP) or advanced metal particle (AMP) tape. The T10000F drive is backwards compatible with T10000D, T10000C, T10000B, and T10000A cartridges.
IBM TS1160 Tape Drive
IBM’s TS1160 enterprise tape drive leverages perpendicular magnetic recording technology to provide 20TB native capacity and 60TB compressed capacity per cartridge:
- Native capacity: 20TB
- Compressed capacity: 60TB (2.5:1 compression)
TS1160 uses tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) read heads and provides dual port 16 Gb/sec Fibre Channel interfaces. It is compatible with IBM 3592 JD and JC tape cartridges.
IBM 3592 Jaguar Tape Drives
The IBM 3592 Jaguar series of enterprise tape drives comes in different models offering native capacity of 10TB to 20TB depending on the cartridge type used:
- IBM 3592 JA8 – up to 10TB native with JD cartridge
- IBM 3592 JJ8 – up to 18TB native with JC cartridge
- IBM 3592 JK8 – up to 20TB native with JC cartridge
These drives provide 16 Gb/sec Fibre Channel interfaces. The Jaguar drives can read and write both JD and JC 3592 cartridges.
Roadmap for Future Tape Drive Capacities
Tape drive manufacturers continue to invest heavily in R&D to push the boundaries on capacity. Here are some technology innovations in progress that can enable higher capacities going forward:
- Barium Ferrite (BaFe) tape technology – Oracle Fujifilm BaFe media provides significantly higher storage density compared to traditional metal particle technology. Variants of BaFe could enable capacities over 100TB per cartridge.
- Strontium Ferrite (SrFe) tape technology – IBM and Sony have demonstrated technology roadmaps for SrFe tape that could enable capacities up to 317TB per cartridge.
- Nano-grained magnetic particles – Use of smaller magnetic particles allows increasing the number of particles and data tracks on tape.
- 3D recording – Storing data in three dimensions by varying layer depth allows higher capacity.
- Bit patterned media – Pre-patterning magnetic isolated regions on tape media enables precise high density recording.
The LTO consortium has developed a technology roadmap for future LTO generations. The latest LTO-9 specification provides 18TB native and 45TB compressed capacity per cartridge. The roadmap predicts the following future capacities:
| LTO Generation | Native Capacity | Compressed Capacity |
| LTO-9 | 18 TB | 45 TB |
| LTO-10 | 36 TB | 90 TB |
| LTO-11 | 72 TB | 180 TB |
| LTO-12 | 144 TB | 360 TB |
Similarly, Oracle projects that its T10000 tape drives could reach capacities up to 315TB native per cartridge. IBM expects its roadmap to reach up to 317TB native capacity.
Factors Affecting Maximum Tape Drive Capacity
There are several technology factors that determine and limit the maximum capacity that can be achieved in a tape drive system:
Tape Length
The physical length of the tape sets limits on capacity. Longer tape can hold more data. Enterprise class tapes like Oracle T10000 are over 1000 feet long. Increasing tape length will allow more capacity, but handling very long tapes can be challenging.
Number of Tracks
Tapes have data tracks that run the length of the tape. More tracks means more capacity. But the width of the tape sets limits on how many tracks can be squeezed in. Current drives support hundreds of tracks.
Track Width
Wider tracks allow more data to be written. But again, the overall tape width limits how wide the tracks can be. Researchers are working to enable narrower tracks by developing more precise read/write head technologies.
Areal Density
Areal density is the amount of data that can be stored on a given surface area of the tape. Higher areal densities mean more data can be squeezed into the same tape area. Advanced tape technologies like barium ferrite enable significantly higher areal density.
Recording Technologies
Different recording technologies used in tape drives have differing data density capabilities. Technologies like perpendicular magnetic recording and tunnel magnetoresistance heads used in recent drives allow greater recording density.
Media Materials
The magnetic particle materials used to coat the tape affects data density. Advanced particulate media such as barium ferrite have higher storage density than traditional metal particles.
Compression
Tape drives use compression to fit more data on the tape. Higher compression ratios result in greater effective capacity. With streaming lossless data compression, 2.5x compression ratios are typically achieved.
Challenges to Increasing Tape Drive Capacities
There are some technology and engineering challenges that need to be overcome to continue pushing tape capacities higher:
- Increased data density – Higher capacity needs greater data density which requires new media formulations and more precise read/write heads.
- Larger data bandwidth – Streaming more data to tape requires higher bandwidth interfaces like moving from 16 Gb/sec to 32 Gb/sec Fibre Channel.
- Error correction – More data density means greater need for error correction algorithms to ensure data reliability.
- Backwards compatibility – New larger capacity drives should still be able to read smaller legacy tapes for customers.
- Hardware costs – Developing higher capacity drives requires extensive R&D investments that need to be recovered from product sales.
Use Cases for High Capacity Tape Drives
Some of the key use cases where high capacity tape drives provide significant value are:
Backup and Archival
Tape drives are heavily used for backup storage and long term archival. The low cost per GB, high capacity, and long media life make tape ideal for these uses. Media can be taken offline and stored safely for disaster recovery.
Big Data and Multimedia
The massive capacities offered by modern tapes make them suitable for archiving huge volumes of data from sources like scientific research, medical imaging, video archives and surveillance data. Cold data can be archived to tape at low cost.
Cloud Storage
Hyperscale cloud providers use high capacity tape for affordable offline storage tiers. Amazon Glacier cloud storage uses tape to offer storage at $0.004 per GB per month. Backblaze offers cloud backup with costs as low as $0.005 per GB per month based on tape infrastructure.
Media and Entertainment
The media industry handles massive volumes of content that needs to be reliably preserved for the long term. Tape archives are ideal for cost effectively storing rich media content from movies, music and more.
Conclusion
Tape drives continue to push the boundaries of storage capacity. While capacities were once measured in megabytes, today’s drives can store hundreds of terabytes on a single cartridge. The maximum capacities of today’s high end tape drives are in the 60TB to 150TB range. Barium ferrite, strontium ferrite, and other advanced media technologies point to drives eventually reaching hundreds of TBs per cartridge. Key factors that determine maximum tape drive capacity include media length, number of tracks, track width, areal density, recording technologies, media materials, and compression. High capacity tapes provide valuable storage capabilities for backup, archival, big data, cloud storage, and media industry use cases.