Tape - Drive Performance Specifications, Media Types and Compatibility

Asset ID:	1-71-1012118.1
Update Date:	2012-07-31
Keywords:

Solution Type Technical Instruction Sure

Solution 1012118.1 : Tape - Drive Performance Specifications, Media Types and Compatibility

Applies to:

Sun Storage SDLT 600 Tape Drive - Version Not Applicable and later
LTO Tape Drive - Version Not Applicable and later
Sun StorageTek T10000 Tape Drive - Version Not Applicable and later
Sun StorageTek 9840 Tape Drive - Version Not Applicable and later
Sun StorageTek 9940B Tape Drive - Version Not Applicable and later
All Platforms
Checked for relevance on 22-Feb-2011.

Goal

Description
When troubleshooting 'Tape Drives' for performance issues, it is very important to first understand the specifications for the tape drive and the type of media in use.

This Info doc, which will be updated periodically, will provide this vital information. This technical instruction will also provide answers to the many questions raised by customers on issues of performance, media type, and compatibility of older tape drives and more newly-released drives.

Fix

Steps to Follow
Hint- Always determine the drive's specification first, when troubleshooting for performance.

Most common customer complaints are as follows:
* I am not getting the transfer rate, tape drive is too slow.
* I am not getting the capacity per tape as specified.

Do not start the troubleshooting process until you understand what the drive's capabilities are.

We need to know the drive's specifications first, because once we have these values, we can establish the 'Expected' performance result. Of course other factors are also important such as Multi-streaming,
Multiplexing and compression among other things. It is also very important the customer use the recommended media type in order to get the maximum capacity on tape and the maximum throughput.

Always look at the Trns/hr (Transfer Rate per hour) for a given drive to determine if the customer is within specification. It may not be possible to get the Max 'Trns/hr' indicated below at customer sites and using
customer data. These 'Trns/hr' are lab test results for specification, using repetitive data patterns and highly compressible data. In most cases customers can get very close to these values if they have an ideal
configuration and with minimum bottleneck in their network environment during data transfers.

Below you will also find a section on compatibility for each drive. Many questions can be answered using these compatibility specifications.

U/s = Ultra scsi, this is the I/F electronics speed.

B/s = Bytes/second

S~  = serpentine

H~ = Helical

mpl = Mid point load

Tape positions at mid point for fast access

bot = beginning of tape, load position

-n = Native

-C = Compression 2:1

Trns/hr = Transfer rate per hour

M = Megabytes

           -n        -C                     Tape      *****

Drive:    Native: Compression: I/F burst:  Capacity:  Trns/hr:  Technology:

-----     ------  -----------  ---------   --------   -------   ----------

DLT7000    5MB/s   ------>     20MB/s U/s   35Gb-n    18.0Gb-n    S~/bot

10MB/s     40MB/s U/s   70Gb-C    36.0Gb-C

DLT8000    6MB/s   ------>     20MB/s U/s   40Gb-n    21.6Gb-n    S~/bot

12MB/s     40MB/s U/s   80Gb-C    43.2Gb-C

SDLT220   11MB/s    20MB/s     20MB/s U/s   110Gb-n   39.6Gb-n    S~/bot

Wide  11MB/s    22MB/s     40MB/s U/s   220Gb-C   72.0Gb-c

LVD Wide  11MB/s    22MB/s     80MB/s U/s             79.2Gb-C

SDLT320   16MB/s    20MB/s     20MB/s U/s   160Gb-n   57.6Gb-n    S~/bot

Wide  16MB/s    32MB/s     40MB/s U/s   320Gb-C   72.0Gb-C

LVD Wide  16MB/s    32MB/s     80MB/s U/s            115.2Gb-C

SDLT600   36MB/s   ------>    200MB/s FC    300Gb-n  129.6Gb-n    S~/bot

72MB/s    200MB/s FC    600Gb-C  259.2Gb-C

9840A     10MB/s   ------>     40MB/s U/s    20Gb-n   36.0Gb-n    S~/mpl

18MB/s    100MB/s FC     40Gb-C   64.8Gb-C

9840B-FC  19MB/s   ------>    200MB/s FC     20Gb-n   68.4Gb-n    S~/mpl

20MB/s    200MB/s FC     40Gb-C   72.0Gb-C

T9840C    30MB/s   ------>    200MB/s FC     40Gb-n  108.0Gb-n    S~/mpl

T9940A    10MB/s   ------>     40MB/s        60Gb-n   36.0Gb-n    S~/mpl

35MB/s    200MB/s FC    120Gb-n  126.0Gb-C

T9940B    30MB/s   ------>    200MB/s FC    200Gb-n  108.0Gb-n    S~/mpl

70MB/s    200MB/s FC    400Gb-n  252.0Gb-C

LTO Gen-1 15MB/s   ------>     20MB/s U/s   100Gb-n   54.0Gb-n    S~/bot

ULTRIUM-1           30MB/s     80MB/s U/s   200Gb-C  108.9Gb-c

LTO Gen-2 30 MB/s  ------>     20MB/s U/s   200Gb-n  108.0Gb-n    S~/bot

ULTRIUM-2           70MB/s    200MB/s FC    400Gb-C  252.0Gb-c

Sony AIT-2   6MB/s    12MB/s       80MB/s    50Gb-n      21.6Gb-n   H~/bot (LVD)

Sony AIT-3  12 MB/s   20-24 MB/s 80MB/s   100Gb-n     43.2Gb-n   H~/bot (LVD)

Media Types and Compatibility

Note: In order to get the maximum capacity on each tape media, the recommended media must be used. Use of any media other than the recommended will not yield the Max capacity and may also add to read/write errors and performance degradation.

Recommended Media to be used for the products shown:

 Product:  Cartridge type:          Compatibility:

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 DLT VS80  * DLTtape IV           -Read/Write 40GB native capacity

-Read DLT 4000

-Read/Write DLT1

Cleaning Tape        -20 uses

 DLT VS160 * DLTtape VS1          -Read/Write 80GB native capacity

-Read DLT1, DLT VS80

DLT1      * DLTtape IV           -Read/Write 40GB native capacities

DLT7000   * DLTtape IV           -Read/Write 20 and 35GB native capacities

DLTtape IIIxt        -Read/Write 15GB native capacity

DLTtape III          -Read/Write 2.6, 6, and 10GB native capact.

DLT cleaning tape    -20 uses ONLY

DLT8000   * DLTtape IV           -Read/Write 20, 35, 40GB native capact.

DLTtape IIIxt        -Read/Write 15GB native capacity

DLTtape III          -Read/Write 10GB native capacity

DLT cleaning tape    -20 uses ONLY

SDLT220   * Super DLTtape I      -Read/Write 110GB native capacity

DLTtape IV           -Read only in SDLT 220

SDLT320   * Super DLTtape I      -Read/Write 160 or 110 GB native capacity

DLTtape IV           -Read only in SDLT 220

(20, 35 or 40 GB native capacity)

SDLT600   * Super DLTtape II     -Read/Write 300 GB native capacity

Super DLTtape I      -Read only  160 GB native capacity

DLTtape VS1          -Read only   80 GB native capacity

T9840A/B  * StorageTek 9840      -Read/Write 20 GB native capacity

-Read/Write T9840A, B, C

T9840C    * StorageTek 9840      -Read/Write 40 GB native capacity

-Read/Write T9840A, B, C

T9940A    * StorageTek 9940      -Read/Write  60 GB native capacity

-Read/Write T9940A, B

T9940B    * StorageTek 9940      -Read/Write 200 GB native capacity

-Read/Write T9940A, B

LTO Gen-1 * LTO Gen1 cartridge   -Read/Write 100 GB native capacity

LTO Gen-2 * LTO Gen2 cartridge   -Read/Write 200 GB native capacity

-Read/Write LTO Gen1

____I/F burst Rates:____

The I/F burst rate is the silicon chip transfer rate (buffer-to-buffer) and it is mostly higher than the sustained rate.

      SCSI wide =  40MB/sec (max)

Ultra 160 = 160MB/sec (max)

Fibre Channel = 200MB/sec (max)

LTO tape drives are manufactured and sold by IBM, Seagate and HP.
DLT and SDLT are manufactured and sold by Quantum Corp.
The Txxxx models are manufactured and sold by Oracle?STK Corp (Storage Tek)
IBM ULTRIUM models are T200, T200F(FC) and 3580(desktop)

1 GB = one gigabyte or     1,000,000,000 bytes

1 GB = one million  or     1,000,000 kilobytes

1 MB = one megabyte or     1,000,000 bytes

1 MB = one megabyte or     1,000 kilobytes

Note: In the storage world, generally the industry don't use the conventional 1MB = 1024KB as they
do in the computer world, maybe for simplicity or maybe simply since this is not so accurate.
To accurately represent mathematically the (1024KB) values in MB it should be 1.024MB = 1024KB.
So to avoid such decimal issues, the industry simply shows the value of 1MB to be equal to 1000KB or in
power of ten and to make it simple for the customers to understand.

Product
Sun StorageTek 9840B Tape Drive
Sun StorageTek LTO Tape Drive
Sun StorageTek 9940 Tape Drive
Sun StorageTek T9840D Tape Drive
Sun StorageTek T9840 Tape Drive
Sun StorageTek T10000 Tape Drive
Sun StorageTek T9940 Tape Drive
Sun StorageTek SDLT Tape Drive
Sun StorageTek T9940B Tape Drive

Tape, Tape Drives, Performance specifications, Media, Compatibility, transfer rate, capacity
Previously Published As @ 74274

Change History
Date: 2006-03-13
User Name: 7058
Action: Approved
Comment: Enabled STM per request of TR - offset preformatted text for readability. OK to publish.
Version: 3
Date: 2006-03-10
User Name: 7058
Action: Accept
Comment:
Version: 0
Date: 2006-03-10
User Name: 117992
Action: Approved
Comment: added changes are correct. forwaring to final review. STM changes would greatly improve this document. If final reviewer does not make these changes then I will accept this doc to modify it next week.
Version: 0
Product_uuid
3297ede6-224e-11d6-809a-dc96121efddb|Tape Drives

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