LTO3A Experiences / Woes

[Nils Ruinet]

Tom,

do you plan to support R3D metadata (the same way you do it with MXF) on the A-series drives in the future ?

And do you think one day it will be possible to read (not write of course) LTO3 tapes that you've recorded on an A-Series drive on another standard (non A-Series) LTO3 drive ? Could a software make that possible ?

Thanks,
Nils.

 

[Tom Goldberg]

We have considered supporting R3D metadata as well as Quicktime, but currently are seeing most pressure to update our MXF support for the newer Panasonic formats, especially AVC-I. As I am not a spokesman for Quantum, I really can't say what is actually in the product roadmap.

It is certainly possible to read A-Series tapes in any format-compatible tape drive with the right software. Thus an LTO-3 or LTO-4 can physically read a LTO-3A tape - it's just a matter of figuring out what the bits mean as they come off. Again, Quantum recognizes the desirability of such a capability, but I don't know when or if they'll get to creating such a capability.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Hopefully Quantum gets around to creating software to read 3A tapes in standard LTO drives, soon... Or at least opens up the format specs so third parties can do it. If nothing else, it would help solidify the format and they would sell more 3A drives. On the flip side, if third parties go beyond just reading the format and allowing the writing of the format as well (and I think they should), then the A-Series drives would only be special for their network interface.

IMO, what is sorely needed in the tape backup market is a common format for archival that everyone can read and write, without depending on one specific software.

 

[Thomas Mathai]

IMO, what is sorely needed in the tape backup market is a common format for archival that everyone can read and write, without depending on one specific software.

All the archiving I've ever done for clients were tarred to tape, which seemed to have been fine for 15 years in the post/vfx side.

I think the future of archiving will be solid state drives or something similar. The idea of no moving parts, fast access, and long shelf life is appealing.

 

[Tom Goldberg]

Surely the idea of solid state archiving or optical archiving or even hard disk archiving are all far more attractive than the idea of using rust on plastic strip (tape).

Surveying what is out there leaves solid state still way too expensive for archiving for some time to come. The best thing on the horizon I've seen is inPhase's holographic solution, but right now it too is a long way from being cost effective... or perhaps Seagate will make a reasonably priced drive they can guarantee will spin up after sitting on a shelf for 20 years.

The fact of the matter is that, at 10-12¢/GB and a 30 year life, tape is the best choice today and in the near future.
TAR has been effective for at least 30 years (I was using it on open reel 9 tracks), but it has never been interchangeable - you have to pull the data off tape to see what is in it. The A-Series is an attempt to overcome that limitation.