LTO Ultrium tape storage - The ultimate choice for capacity, security and sustainability.
Although many IT vendors and industry analysts have been declaring tape storage obsolete for a decade, these claims are greatly exaggerated. In fact, tape storage is experiencing a renaissance, driven by technological advances, a planned roadmap for significantly greater capacity, and its inherent ability to thwart cyberattacks.
Tape media grew 2022% year-on-year in 14 compared to a 42% year-on-year decline in hard drive sales.
While HDDs and flash memory remain the primary storage solutions for mission-critical applications for the time being, tape storage is experiencing sales growth. This is a direct result of the unstoppable data explosion, which is driving the need for sustainable, long-term data storage. In addition to capacity, tape's inherent air gap provides an increasingly important layer of data security. In fact, sales of LTO (Linear Tape Open) media increased again last year, according to Trendfocus data from the Storage Newsletter In contrast, Blocks & Files Preliminary TrendFocus data on hard drive shipments for the end of 2022 indicates a 42% annual decline in shipments and a 25-33% capacity decline. So, the band currently has an extremely solid foundation. Let's take a closer look at some of the reasons for this.
The current long-term roadmap for LTO technology, LTO-14, could deliver 1,4 PB of compressed capacity within a decade.
The current LTO roadmap outlines a promising future for tape storage capacity. It is predicted that LTO-14 could offer approximately 1,4 PB (compressed) of storage capacity per tape. Combined with the high-speed retrieval of LTFS, this means that LTO will continue to play a critical role as a storage solution for the foreseeable future.
The capacity forecasts in the LTO roadmap mark a significant milestone in the ongoing evolution of tape technology. Currently, the latest generation, LTO-9, offers a storage capacity of up to 45 TB (compressed). According to the roadmap, future generations are expected to double this capacity, with LTO-10 (up to 90 TB compressed) and LTO-11 (up to 180 TB compressed), which should support the rapid adoption of LTO technology in the coming years. It is foreseeable that LTO-14, currently the pinnacle of LTO technology, could become a reality within the next decade.
Tape technology offers a loophole to protect important data and backups from ransomware.
The recent rise in the adoption of tape storage is largely due to the increasing prevalence of ransomware. Initially, ransomware focused primarily on encrypting its victims' data. The easiest method to recover from a ransomware attack was to use backups. However, cybercriminals quickly realized that backups were the key obstacle preventing them from extorting ransoms. Therefore, cyber gangs began developing ransomware that specifically targets a company's backup files.
Tape storage technology offers strong protection against such attacks. The tape can act as an isolated data copy, often referred to as 'air gapped.' In short, an administrator can write data to a tape, remove the cartridge, and store it securely in another location. Ransomware cannot compromise data on a tape that is not in a drive. Since LTO-3, Ultrium standards have incorporated WORM (Write-once, Read-many) technology. This means that once data is written to the tape, it cannot be modified by other users. This, in turn, means an attacker cannot encrypt the contents of a tape in the context of ransomware.
To further protect data, the LTO-4 specification introduced a new feature. It allows LTO drives to encrypt data before saving it to tape. While all LTO-4 and later drives can detect encrypted tapes, they are not required to actively support the encryption process. Currently, all major LTO manufacturers offer support for encryption directly within the tape drives, using a method called Application Managed Encryption (AME).
LTO tapes are pioneering the sustainability of data storage.
In an age where cost efficiency is a top priority for customers, the energy consumption of storage solutions is significant. Storage solution providers are responding with new platforms and initiatives that address both cost and environmental considerations. Each of the three primary storage types—HDDs, flash, and tape—offers potential environmental benefits depending on customer usage. Flash storage is characterized by low power consumption, high performance, and long endurance. HDDs offer high storage density at affordable prices, which reduces overall power requirements. Tapes, particularly LTO, contribute their own sustainability aspect. Unlike other options, tapes consume minimal power when not being read or written. Recent research by the Enterprise Strategy Group shows that this feature could potentially reduce carbon dioxide emissions by a factor of 6,5.
Matt Ninesling, Director of Hardware Engineering at Spectra Logic estimates that 1 petabyte (PB) of tape storage in a library consumes about 300 watts, while 1 PB of disk storage consumes about 3500 watts.
According to estimates by LTO.org's The conversion of only one third of disk storage to tape drives worldwide could already annual energy savings of about 200 million megawatt hours Thus, LTO tapes play a crucial role in reducing the environmental impact of the global data explosion.
Cristie Data GREEN S3 takes sustainable tape backup and archiving to a new level.
Cristie Data has many years of expertise in the development and implementation of tape storage solutions. This includes its proprietary GigaStream LTO tape library portfolio as well as solutions from leading manufacturers worldwide. Since 2020, Cristie has been working closely with its technology partner windCORES. Together, they offer backup and archiving solutions hosted directly on wind turbines, leveraging clean power at the source. Tape backup and archiving are options for Cristie wind farm customers who want to benefit from a backup solution powered by sustainable energy, protected against ransomware, and physically secure by default due to its hosting location. To support the use of the popular S3-compatible object storage, Cristie recently introduced the carbon-neutral, application-optimized GREEN S2 Cloud. The service is offered on a pay-as-you-go basis; customers only pay for the storage space used. S3 storage backup directly to LTO tape is an option within this service, which leverages the PoINT Archive Gateway from PoINT Software & Systems. The PoINT Archival Gateway provides a standardized S3 REST API, allowing the software to be used without customization for the growing number of applications that use object-based storage with S3 REST support. It writes object data directly to LTO tape media and requires no buffer disks, eliminating the need for cumbersome S3 Glacier commands to read archived data.
LTO tapes offer easy scalability and backward compatibility to maximize return on investment.
LTO tape and library systems are designed for scalability and maximum return on investment. While Ultrium drives are assigned to specific generations, they must maintain a certain level of compatibility with older cartridge generations. The rules for compatibility between drive and cartridge generations are as follows:
- Ultrium drives up to and including LTO-7 can read data from cartridges of their own generation and the two previous generations. LTO-8 drives can read LTO-7 and LTO-8 tapes, but not LTO-6 tapes.
- An Ultrium drive is capable of writing data to a cartridge of its own generation and to a cartridge of the immediately previous generation, using the previous generation's format.
- Some LTO-8 drives can record data to previously unused LTO-7 tapes with an increased, uncompressed capacity of 9 TB (known as Type M or M8). However, this conversion to Type M can only be initiated with new, unused LTO-7 cartridges, and once converted, cartridges cannot be reverted to the 6 TB LTO-7 format. The process of initializing LTO-7 Type M cartridges to Type M can only be performed in an LTO-8 drive. LTO-7 drives are not capable of reading LTO-7 Type M cartridges.
- It is important to note that an Ultrium drive cannot use newer generation cartridges in any form.
Cristie Data - LTO tape solutions from entry to enterprise.
Whether you are using tape technology for the first time or want to expand an existing installation, Cristie Data offers a wide range of tape solutions and accompanying services. GigaStream T-Serie Cristie Data's automated tape library portfolio includes the scalable T8, T24, T48, and T560 models. These offer maximum LTO-9 compression capacities of 360 TB, 1080 TB, 2160 TB, and 2,52 PB, respectively. Upgrading from one of the smaller libraries to a T560 is possible at any time. The T8 model is an ideal entry point with a compact 1-rack unit (1RU) form factor for up to 8 tape cartridges. For larger enterprise applications, Cristie is an authorized partner of renowned tape library manufacturers such as Spectra Logic and Quantum.
Cristie Data Tape Services - so your data is always available and secure.
To ensure long-term readability and use of tape archives, it is often necessary to transfer data to new media or tape libraries. Our wide range of media services ensures that your data is always available.
Cristie Tape Service Proof of Concept
Are you considering replacing an outdated tape library or purchasing a new tape system for a specific project? We'll work with you to determine the most suitable system through a proof of concept (PoC). This PoC can take place either on-site, in our demonstration environment, or in the demonstration environment of one of our partners. We offer comprehensive support throughout the selection process, leveraging our expertise in tape technology.
Tape library check-up & quality assurance
We detect early signs of tape quality deterioration so you can take timely action and prevent data loss.
Additional band services include:
Additional band services include:
- Data storage – CMW – Cristie Media Warehouse
- Migration to new band generations – CMM – Cristie Media Migration
- Tape holdings
- Tape monitoring and reporting
- Operation of the library environment
- BSI-compliant data media destruction according to ISO 66399 – CMD – Cristie Media Destruction
- Band reviews
- Migration of libraries
- Library monitoring and reporting
- Rental of tape libraries for migrations
Cristie Data - your reliable partner for all tape storage requirements.
In summary, LTO tape technology is stable over the long term and offers significant improvements in capacity, performance, security, and sustainability. The team at Cristie Data is always available to discuss your backup and archiving needs. For more information, please visit our Backup and archiving solutions or contact us for a non-binding discussion.
