One of the recent challenges that equally made IT world optimistic about the forthcoming tech inroads into daily life and also posed a big question mark in regard to cope up with the burgeoning need of capacity, is the storage and application of data. LTO or Linear Tape Open is one of the most promising storage and data transfer technology that addresses the above mentioned challenge of data storage and speedier availability of the same. As the web access became an indispensable part of all aspects and functionalities of life and its variant institutions, the volume of data are increasing by trillions of units every day and correspondingly this burgeoning and ever increasing data offers equally some new opportunities like wider perspective of data analysis for business houses and decision makers (as presented by 'Big Data') and also the challenges to make bigger capacity storage with smarter space attributes and faster speed for data sharing. LTO or Linear Tape Open is the storage technology that addresses all these aspects most comprehensively.
How LTO started?
The technology of storing data in thin magnetic tape was already there since half a century before it has been intended by few companies like Sony, DEC (later on Quantum) to incorporate the technology into smarter data storage format. Around middle 90's the technology the two brands were already the leaders in offering magnetic tape storage products, respectively as Sony's AIT (Advanced Intelligent Tape) and Quantum's DLT (Digital Linear Tape). Other big brands in the storage market were at that time just groping to come with a reply to replace this domination. Thus at the end of that decade IBM, Seagate and HP came together to come up with a open format technology and this precisely marked the formal breakthrough of LTO or Linear Tape Open technology. Much of the first generation LTO technology is developed by long years of research by IBM in their Tucson laboratory.
How LTO works?
Just in the beginning LTO or Linear Tape Open was launched in two formats, ½ inch wide digital high capacity tape put on a single reel and the 8mm digital tape on dual reels. Since the beginning LTO constantly went through upgrading and now as LTO 6 is already in place, many people with huge data storage requirement feel it is going to be their unmatched partner as far as the storage is concerned. It is just as easy as to use other storage devise but undoubtedly is loaded with a great array of benefits. There are great many software and applications that you can choose from to write your files on the LTO tape. While Xendata is a great choice if you are a windows user, whereas for Linux or Mac, Bru from Tollisgroup is recommended.
LTO 5 and LTO 6
The LTO or Linear Tape Open technology with 3.2 TB storage capacity and data transfer speed of 360 KBPS is referred as LTO 5. LTO 5 was released on 2010 and within just two years flat LTO 6, the latest version of this storage technology with more higher specifications in storage capacity and speed of data transfer. LTO 6 offers up to 6.25 TB compressed data storage with a astounding data transfer speed of 400MBPS per second.
Distinct Benefits of LTO
LTO or Linear Tape Open is recommended as the state of the art technology that offers array of features and benefits long waited for. Hard disk drives the close in hand common storage alternative is not capable to deliver the solution when long term data storage is concerned. Primarily LTO is preferred for its longer durability as a dependable storage technology compared to others. Moreover with LTO 6 is in place with more than 6TB storage capacity and data speed of 400MBPS it is now the most preferable data storage for high value computing or organizational purpose while being comparatively an inexpensive one.