What is LTO-7 Type M Media?-a tech explanation

Tekmart Data Center Team/ August 4, 2021/ Backup and Archival Tools, Data storage backup tools, Datacenter Infrastructure News, Expert Advise and Opinion, How-Tos and Other Useful Tips and Tricks, Industry News and Expert Advice, Tech Definitions, Technical Explanations, Tekmart Enterprise Hardware Tips

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Linear Tape Open (LTO) LTO-7 Type M technology is the ability of the LTO-8 drive to write 9 TB on a brand new LTO-7 cartridge instead of 6 TB as specified by the LTO-7 format.

By Tekmart Enterprise Support Team

LTO tape can provide years of protection at a much lower cost than other storage solutions. With Linear Tape File System (LTFS), it’s easier to view, archive and share your files than ever before

Such a cartridge is called an “LTO-7 cartridge initialized as Type M media”.

There are some key features that make it straightforward to recognise LTO-7 Type M media:

• LTO-7 Type M media can be created and subsequently recognized by the use of an automation barcode label ending with the last 2 characters “M8”.
• Only new, unused LTO-7 cartridges may be initialized as LTO-7 Type M media. Once a cartridge is initialized as Type M, it may not be changed back to a 6TB LTO-7 cartridge.
• An LTO-7 cartridge initialized as LTO-7 Type M media can only be written and read in an LTO-8 drive.
• LTO-7 drives are not capable of reading LTO-7 Type M media.

Below is a video of the overview of these LTO-7 Type M Media:-