LTO Tape FAQ: Your Questions About LTO Storage Answered

LTO stands for Linear Tape-Open. It’s an open tape storage standard developed by the LTO Program, whose technology partners are HPE, IBM and Quantum. The first generation launched in 2000. Because it’s an open standard, drives and media from different manufacturers are compatible within each generation, so you’re never locked into a single vendor.

Yes, arguably more than ever. Data volumes are growing rapidly, ransomware threats are increasing, and disk and cloud costs keep rising. LTO offers the lowest cost per terabyte for long-term storage, an offline air gap against cyber attacks, and a shelf life of up to 30 years. It’s widely used by large cloud providers and data centers for cold storage.

A backup is a copy of your active data, kept so you can restore it if something is deleted, corrupted or lost. An archive is data you no longer use day to day but need to keep for the long term, such as finished projects or records. LTO is well suited to both, and many organizations use it for backup and archive at the same time.

LTFS (Linear Tape File System) lets an LTO tape appear on your computer like a regular drive, so you can browse, drag and drop files. It’s supported from LTO-5 onwards. Because LTFS tapes are self-describing, they can be read on any LTFS-compatible system, which makes them popular for sharing and archiving media across facilities.

LTO technology has been developed through successive generations, each increasing cartridge capacity and performance. Symply offers drives from LTO-7 through to the latest LTO-10. The LTO Program’s published roadmap extends to LTO-14, so the format has a clear long-term future.

Native capacity is how much data a tape holds without compression. Compressed capacity assumes data can be compressed at a 2.5:1 ratio. Video and many media files are already compressed, so they won’t shrink further. For media archives, plan your storage based on native capacity.

When a new LTO-9 tape is loaded for the first time, the drive runs a one-time optimization process that can take up to two hours. This calibrates the tape for maximum reliability over its lifetime. It only happens once per tape, and LTO-10 tapes don’t require it.

Consider upgrading when your archive is outgrowing your current capacity, your data volumes are increasing significantly, or your existing hardware is nearing the end of its life. Newer generations store more per tape, which means fewer cartridges to buy, store and manage.

LTO-10 drives only read and write LTO-10 tapes, so they can’t access LTO-9 or older cartridges. If you move to LTO-10, you can either keep a compatible older drive to access your existing tapes, or migrate your archive to LTO-10 media over time. Symply can help you plan the best approach.

A desktop LTO drive is a standalone tape drive that sits on or near your desk and connects directly to your computer. It’s ideal for individual professionals, freelancers and small teams who need professional archiving without a server rack or tape library. Symply offers both single and dual-drive desktop systems.

A single-drive system is the simpler, lower-cost option, ideal if you mainly need one archive or backup copy. A dual-drive system, such as the SymplyPRO XTH desktop or SymplyPRO 1U and 2U rackmount, lets you write to two tapes at the same time, so you can create two identical copies in one pass: one to keep on-site and one to store off-site. It also makes tape-to-tape copying and archive migration much easier. The two drives don’t have to be the same generation. The SymplyPRO XTH and 1U rackmount can combine any mix of LTO-7, LTO-8 and LTO-9 half-height drives, for example to read older LTO-7 tapes while writing new archives to LTO-9. For moving to LTO-10, the SymplyPRO 2U Migrate combines a full-height LTO-9 and an LTO-10 drive in one unit.

The physical size of the drive affects speed and which generations are available, not how much each tape holds: an LTO-9 tape stores 18 TB whether it’s used in a half-height or full-height drive. Half-height drives are more compact and lower cost, and run at up to 300 MB/s native. They’re available for LTO-7, LTO-8 and LTO-9. Full-height drives run at up to 400 MB/s native, making them the better choice for large or time-critical archive jobs, and are the only option for LTO-10.

It depends on the computer or server you’ll connect to and how your setup works. Thunderbolt/USB4 is the simplest choice for Macs and modern laptops or workstations, with no extra hardware needed. SAS is the standard for servers and workstations fitted with a SAS host bus adapter, common in Windows, Linux and enterprise environments. Ethernet lets you place the drive away from the computer and connect over your network. SymplyPRO desktop and rackmount drives are available with Thunderbolt/USB4, SAS or Ethernet, while SymplyPRO XTL tape libraries also support Fibre Channel for existing Fibre Channel storage networks. If you’re unsure, Symply’s team can recommend the best option for your setup.

A rackmount LTO system houses one or two LTO drives in an enclosure that fits a standard server rack. The SymplyPRO 1U takes half-height drives (LTO-7, LTO-8 and LTO-9), and the SymplyPRO 2U takes full-height drives (LTO-9 and LTO-10). Both are designed for server rooms, post-production facilities and studios that keep equipment centralized in racks.

A tape library is worth considering when your archive spans many cartridges, you want backups to run unattended, or you need to scale capacity easily over time. Libraries automatically load and swap tapes using a robotic mechanism. Symply’s SymplyPRO XTL range scales from the compact XTL 8 and XTL 24 up to the modular XTL 40 and XTL 80, which support LTO-10 and can expand to hundreds of tape slots as your archive grows.

Yes. LTO drives work with backup and archive software. Every standalone SymplyPRO desktop or rackmount drive includes your choice of Hedge Canister or YoYotta archive software at no extra cost. Symply LTO is also supported by most leading backup and archive platforms, including Archiware P5, Veeam, Commvault, Acronis and XenData. Every drive also comes with SymplyATOM2, free software for drive health checks, firmware updates and diagnostics.

Yes. SymplyPRO Thunderbolt/USB4 drives connect directly to any Mac with Thunderbolt or USB4 ports, with no extra adapter needed. Every standalone SymplyPRO drive also includes Mac-compatible archive software at no extra cost, and SymplyATOM2, Symply’s free drive management software, is available for Mac too. Ethernet-connected drives work with Macs as well, using ATTO Xtend SAN software, a free copy of which is included with every Ethernet SymplyPRO drive.

In almost all cases, yes. USB4 is built on the Thunderbolt 3 standard, and any USB4 port rated at 40Gbps is required to support Thunderbolt 3 devices, so a SymplyPRO Thunderbolt drive will work with it. The exception is some lower-end laptops with 20Gbps USB4 ports, where Thunderbolt compatibility isn’t guaranteed. If you’re unsure, check your computer’s specifications for the USB4 port speed.

LTO-6 and LTO-7 drives have reached end of life and are no longer manufactured industry-wide, but cartridges for both generations are still in production and readily available. Symply has limited stock of new LTO-7 drives for desktop and rackmount units, refurbished LTO-7 drives for XTL libraries, and refurbished LTO-6 drives for the single-drive SymplyPRO desktop. Contact Symply’s team to check availability. Depending on your needs, moving to a current generation such as LTO-8, LTO-9 or LTO-10 may also be worth considering.

Yes. From LTO-4 onwards, LTO drives support hardware-based AES-256 encryption, so data can be encrypted as it’s written to tape without slowing down performance. This protects your data even if a cartridge is lost or stolen.

WORM (Write Once, Read Many) cartridges can be written to but never erased or overwritten. They’re available from LTO-3 onwards and are used where data must be kept unaltered for legal, regulatory or compliance reasons, providing an immutable copy of your records.

Store tapes in their cases, upright, in a cool, dry environment with stable temperature and humidity, away from direct sunlight and strong magnetic fields. Proper storage is key to reaching LTO’s shelf life of up to 30 years.

Film, TV and broadcast workflows generate enormous amounts of data, from camera originals to finished masters. LTO lets studios and post-production facilities move completed projects off expensive production storage onto a secure, low-cost archive, while keeping content retrievable whenever it’s needed. LTFS also makes it easy to share tapes between facilities.

Yes. High-resolution formats create very large files, which makes LTO’s high capacity and low cost per terabyte especially valuable. As video is already compressed, plan based on native capacity. A single LTO-10 cartridge holds up to 30 TB, or 40 TB with the higher-capacity Enterprise Aramid cartridge.

Beyond media and entertainment, LTO is used by universities and research institutions, healthcare providers, banks and financial institutions, government organizations and data centers. Any organization that needs to keep large volumes of data securely, for many years, at the lowest cost can benefit from LTO.

The 3-2-1 rule means keeping three copies of your data, on two different types of media, with one copy off-site. LTO is ideal for this: it provides a second media type alongside disk, and cartridges can easily be stored off-site. Many organizations now follow 3-2-1-1, adding one offline or air-gapped copy to protect against ransomware, which LTO provides naturally.

Every standalone SymplyPRO desktop or rackmount drive includes your choice of Hedge Canister or YoYotta archive software, SymplyATOM2 drive management software, a data cartridge, a cleaning cartridge and the cables you need to get started. Rackmount units also include a rack kit, and Thunderbolt units include a premium Thunderbolt cable and SymplyLOCK cable lock.

Symply LTO drives come with a 3-year warranty as standard, which can be extended to 5 years. Advanced Replacement is available in Europe, the UK, the US and Canada, so a replacement unit is shipped to you before the faulty one is returned, keeping downtime to a minimum.

Symply’s largest library is MATTERHORN, an enterprise-class tape library built for data centers, enterprise, research and academic institutions. Depending on configuration, it supports up to 1,115 tape slots and up to 44.6 PB of capacity using 40 TB LTO-10 cartridges, with up to 24 full-height LTO-8, LTO-9 or LTO-10 drives. MATTERHORN ships pre-installed in its own rack with cartridges pre-loaded, and features redundant power, hardware encryption and WORM support. For capacity beyond a single library, multiple libraries can be combined behind an S3 or file gateway.

In North America, you can buy direct from Symply through the online store with free shipping to the US and Canada. Products not listed on the store, can be ordered direct by emailing hello@gosymply.com, or through an authorized reseller. Outside North America, Symply products are sold through a network of authorized resellers. Visit the Where to Buy page to receive information on your nearest reseller.

SymplyCABLELESS is Symply’s tool-free drive design, built into all Symply dual-drive desktop and rackmount systems. It makes LTO drives quick and easy to remove, service or upgrade, with no cables to disconnect inside the unit. You can start with a single LTO drive and add a second in seconds, without powering down the system, and upgrading to a newer LTO generation is just as simple. If a drive ever has an issue, it can be swapped out without shutting down the whole unit, and only that drive needs to be returned for service, keeping downtime to a minimum.

Yes. Dual-drive units like the SymplyPRO XTH and SymplyPRO 1U rackmount can take a second half-height drive, and the two drives can be different generations (any mix of LTO-7, LTO-8 and LTO-9). The SymplyPRO 2U rackmount takes full-height LTO-9 or LTO-10 drives. Symply’s dual-drive desktop systems feature SymplyCABLELESS technology, so a second drive can be added, or an existing one upgraded, in seconds without powering down.

SymplyPRO is Symply’s range of LTO tape drives for backup and archive. SymplyDIT is a combined ingest and archive workstation: it includes a SymplyPRO LTO drive plus built-in drive bays, so you can offload footage from camera media and write it straight to tape in a single device. This makes SymplyDIT ideal for on-set data management, digital imaging technicians (DITs) and production teams who need to back up and archive footage quickly, without extra equipment. Like SymplyPRO, SymplyDIT is available in single-drive, dual-drive and full-height configurations.

Yes. Symply can help Overland Tandberg NEO library customers in three ways: moving you to a new Symply XTL tape library while keeping your existing Overland Tandberg LTO drives, repairing your Overland Tandberg LTO drives, or supplying new Symply LTO drives for your existing NEO library.