Date: Tue, 05 Nov 1996 21:53:47 GMT Server: NCSA/1.5 Content-type: text/html Last-modified: Tue, 16 Jul 1996 18:17:05 GMT Content-length: 14691 Overview of Current Tape Technology Back to Jussi Myllymaki's home page.


Manufacturers and Information Sources

  • Conner Peripherals
  • Digital Equipment
  • Exabyte
  • IBM
  • Quantum
  • Sony
  • Storage FAQ

  • Note: all capacity and transfer rate figures in this document are with no compression.

    8mm Technology

    8mm Media

    Video grade (VG) 8mm tape costs $5, data grade (DG) costs $20.

    8mm Tape Drives

    Manufacturer Tape Drive Capacity Transfer Rate
    Exabyte EXB-8205 2.5 GB 0.263 MB/s
    Exabyte EXB-8505 5 GB 0.5 MB/s
    Exabyte Mammoth 20 GB 3 MB/s
    IBM 3445 5 GB 0.5 MB/s
    IBM 7208-011 5 GB 0.5 MB/s
    IBM RS/6000 Model 9334/6146 2.3 GB 0.245 MB/s
    IBM RS/6000 Model 9334/6147 5 GB 0.5 MB/s
    Conner 2200HS+ 2.2 GB 0.246 MB/s
    Conner 5000HS 5 GB 0.5 MB/s

    8mm Libraries

    Manufacturer Tape Library # Drives/Tapes Total Capacity
    Exabyte EXB-10e 1/10 50 GB
    Exabyte EXB-210 2/10 50 GB
    Exabyte EXB-440 4/40 200 GB
    Exabyte EXB-480 4/80 400 GB
    Exabyte EXB-480 (Mammoth) 4/80 1.6 TB
    IBM LS/380L ?/? 270 GB

    DAT (4mm) Technology

    Overview

    First generation DAT (DDS-1 (Digital Data Storage)) drives store 2.0 GB per tape and transfer 0.183 MB/s. With 2:1 data compression, the capacity is 4.0 GB and speed is 0.366 MB/s.

    Second generation DAT (DDS-2) drives store 4.0 GB per tape and transfer 0.366 MB/s uncompressed. With 2:1 compression, the capacity is 8.0 GB and speed is 0.732 MB/s.

    DAT Media

    A DDS-2 cartridge costs $15-20.

    DDS-1 Tape Drives

    Manufacturer Tape Drive Capacity Transfer Rate
    Wang WangDAT 3200 2.0 GB 0.183 MB/s
    Exabyte EXB-4200/4200c 2.0 GB 0.183 MB/s
    Hewlett-Packard HP 35470A 2.0 GB 0.183 MB/s
    Hewlett-Packard HP 35480A 2.0 GB 0.732 MB/s
    IBM 3440-001 2.0 GB 0.183 MB/s
    IBM 7206-001 2.0 GB 0.183 MB/s
    Sony SDT-2000 2.0 GB 0.183 MB/s
    Conner CS/MS 2000DAT 2.0 GB 0.183 MB/s

    DDS-2 Tape Drives

    Manufacturer Tape Drive Capacity Transfer Rate
    Wang WangDAT 3300DX/3400DX 4.0 GB 0.366 MB/s
    Sony SDT-4000/5000 4.0 GB 0.366 MB/s
    Exabyte EXB-4402/4402c 4.0 GB 0.233 MB/s
    Exabyte EXB-4400 4.0 GB 0.410 MB/s
    Conner CS/MS 4000DAT 4.0 GB 0.366 MB/s
    Hewlett-Packard HP C1533A 4.0 GB 0.510 MB/s
    Hewlett-Packard HP C2225A 4.0 GB 0.366 MB/s
    IBM 7206-005 4.0 GB 0.366 MB/s
    IBM RS/6000 Feature 6142 4.0 GB 0.366 MB/s
    Digital Equipment TZL06 DAT 4.0 GB 0.366 MB/s

    DAT Libraries

    Manufacturer Tape Library # Drives/Tapes Total Capacity
    Wang WangDAT LD4 1/4 16 GB
    Conner 4L-DATi 1/4 16 GB
    Conner 12L-DAT 1/12 48 GB
    Conner 4584NP DAT 1/16 64 GB
    ADIC 1200D DAT 1/12 48 GB
    Exabyte EXB-218 2/10 40 GB
    Digital Equipment TLZ6L Autoloader 1/12 48 GB
    Hewlett-Packard HP C1550A 1/12 48 GB

    DLT (Digital Linear Tape) Technology

    DLT Tape Drives

    Manufacturer Tape Drive Capacity Transfer Rate
    Quantum DLT-2000 10 GB 1.25 MB/s
    Quantum DLT-4000 20 GB 1.5 MB/s
    Quantum DLT-7000 35 GB 5 MB/s
    Digital Equipment TZ87 10 GB 1.25 MB/s
    Conner MS20DLT 10 GB 1.25 MB/s
    Conner MS6000DLT 6 GB 0.8 MB/s

    DLT Libraries

    Manufacturer Tape Library # Drives/Tapes Total Capacity
    Quantum DLT4700 1/7 140 GB
    Digital Equipment DLT2700 1/7 70 GB
    Conner L7A-42 1/7 42 GB

    Half-Inch Technology

    Half-Inch Tape Drives

    Manufacturer Tape Drive Capacity Transfer Rate Density # Tracks
    Digital Equipment TA91 200 MB to 38 GB ? 38000 bpi 18
    Digital Equipment TK50 95 MB ? 6667 bpi 22
    Digital Equipment TK70 296 MB ? 10000 bpi 48
    IBM 3490 200-800 MB 3 MB/s ? 9/18/36
    Metrum Model 97 ? MB ? MB/s 50000 bpi 7/14/28
    Metrum RSP-2150 14.5-18 GB 2 MB/s 50000 bpi 2
    Metrum RSP-2150 14.5-18 GB 2 MB/s 50000 bpi 2

    Half-Inch Libraries

    Manufacturer Tape Library # Drives/Tapes Total Capacity
    Digital Equipment TL3Vx ?/4 58 GB
    IBM 3490-C11 Autoloader x/x 14.4 GB
    IBM 3494 Dataserver x/x 13.5 GB to 45.5 TB
    Metrum RSS-600b Storage Library x/x 10.8 TB

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