Posted on 01/26/2010 12:47:20 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
IBM Research has devised technology with FujiFilm to create a 35TB capacity tape, but it will take 3 days to write the data at LTO5 speeds.
The new hyper-capacity half inch tape technology has been successfully read and written at a 29.5bn bits/sq in areal density, which means a tape capacity of 35TB according to the researchers. This is said to be 44 times the 800MB raw density of LTO4 tape. From a technological point of view the gee whiz factor is impressive.
The media is FujiFilm's Nanocubic tape, with an ultra-fine, perpendicularly-oriented barium-ferrite magnetic medium that apparently does not use expensive metal sputtering or evaporation coating methods. IBM has developed new servo control technologies enabling a 25X increase in the number of parallel tracks on half inch tape, with a track width of less than 0.45 micrometers.
There is an ultra-narrow 0.2um data reader head and a data read channel based on a data-dependent noise-predictive, maximum-likelihood (DD-NPML) detection scheme developed at IBM Research in Zurich. IBM Research at Almaden developed a reduced-friction head assembly allowing the use of smoother magnetic tapes and an advanced GMR (Giant Magneto-Resistive) head module incorporating optimised servo readers.
The capacity can be increased to the 100bn bit/sq in level according to the IBM researchers. However, one issue that IBM and FujiFilm do not discuss is the time to read or write 35TB of tape data. Using LTO5's tape transfer speed of 140MB/sec it would take 2.89 days (69.44 hours) to write the full 35TB. To write 35TB in the same time that LTO5 writes its 1.5TB of raw data, that's 2.98 hours, would require the tape speed to increase 23.33 times, and that assumes that read/write heads can process the signals passing to and from .....
(Excerpt) Read more at theregister.co.uk ...
fyi
*******************************EXCERPT******************************
13th August 2009 10:11 GMT
Imation will soon be making the industry's first terabyte-plus raw capacity tape, in the LTO-5 format, with delivery in early 2010.
The Linear Tape Open (LTO) consortium has three technology-providing members: HP, IBM and Quantum. It defines tape formats against which the three members build drives and independent licensed manufacturers manufacture tape media and build drives. The current format is LTO-4, with a raw capacity of 800GB.
The LTO development roadmap has LTO-5 as its next format and this is what Imation is now licensed to manufacture. Its raw capacity is twice LTO-4's, 1.6TB, with a 2:1 compressed capacity of 3.2TB. LTO-3, the prior generation and format to LTO-4, had a capacity of 400GB raw and and an 80MB/sec transfer speed. The transfer speed rose to 120MB/sec with LTO-4 and will rise again to 180MB/sec with LTO-5.
The LTO website above quotes such figures in compressed data form and so says LTO-5 capacity and transfer rates are 3.2TB and 360MB/sec respectively.
Imation expects to deliver LTO-5 tape media in early 2010 and will, logically, have been developing the media using pre-production versions of LTO-5 drives. These drives will support WORM (Write Once Read Many) format for archiving of unalterable data on tape, and also encryption to secure the contents against unauthorised access. They will also probably support the reading of LTO-4 format tapes and so provide an upgrade path to LTO-4 users needing more capacity.
Tape? What are they gonna do, write ISAM streams?
I didn’t even know that they still used tape, much less making new products!
I have had the worst time with tape systems. They write then fail to read.
Gee, I thought my backups take too long now.
Shrug. So it will take me only 3 days to fill it. Got something bigger?
I think I am really out of date....I was looking for a picture of the IBM tape cartridge we were using in the early 90’s and I see new stuff...what is being used in data centers now...assuming that they are still doing such usage.
I sold the first key to tape devise back in the 60s, the Mohawk Data Sciences, data recorder.
Instead of punching holes 80 column cards the data was written directly to tape.
Management of the large key punch shops {most were union} loved me because it increase productivity 3-4 times.
The unions hated us because the operator positions were cut by a factor of 60-75%.
Even back then, unions were luddites.
Back then, Pittsburgh was my sales area and the unions were first formed in the city and were {and still are} very strong.
I was thinking more like huge reel-to-reel machines with vacuum columns..
That has been gone for 20+ years....see link at post #14 and click on the video overview on the right ....
I asked my manager to sign me up for any training on any new emerging products so I could be a SME. Worked like a charm.
Now with SS drives, it looks like the days of disks are numbered too. Time to re-train...again!
See link at #14.
Well...I don’t think tape is dead...
Much of their tape went to NASA and CERN to hold raw data from synchrotrons, satellites, weapons testing etc, and had to be certified to hold data a minimum of 25 years with no degradation of signal.
They could measure the effects of Earth's magnetic field as it moved, on the tapes’ magnetic domains.
Saw GMI’s very first floppy media from design stage thru production. I bet there are still thousands of 8” and 5 1/4” test floppies in their garage.
Fascinating!
I have no idea what I just read.
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