Tim Gerhard
REDuser Sponsor
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2016
- Messages
- 139
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Columbus, OH
- Website
- www.magstor.com
This article written by George Saliba, an inventor, of well known tape technologies, states the enormous downsides of using an LTO drive in a vertical position versus horizontal like normal companies do. Some may think that is aesthetically pleasing to mount their drives vertically, but it’s putting their customers at a disadvantage.
Full Article found here: https://ltoworld.com/blogs/news/lto-8-mounting-orientation-effects-on-tape-drive-performance
CONCLUSION: Based on the data from testing the new IBM LTO8 drive, when the drive is mounted in the vertical direction, the drive delivered significantly worse performance than in the horizontal position. In this calibrated test, LTO Tape Driver Doctor, during repeated tests, measured as much as 3X slower performance when the drive was mounted in the vertical direction as compared the horizontal direction. Furthermore, the drive reported an order of magnitude increase in write servo skips in this drive. Large servo skip count indicates the potential for large losses of cartridge capacity that will reduce the total useable capacity of the LTO8 tape drive. Based on this test, we recommend mounting IBM LTO8 drives in the horizontal direction.
Abstract: The topic of the preferred mounting orientation of tape drives has been discussed for decades, clearly the drive mounting orientation will alter the head mass effect on the servo loop performance when the head is suspended by the actuator or resting on the guides. Over the years, number of tests were conducted on various DLT drives and even decades ago, the data showed a preferred drive mounting orientation can influence drive performance. Considering that quick review of the LTO8 shows the similar drive architecture to DLT, the question has remained unanswered if the drive mounting orientation can affect the drive performance. This study was recently requested by MagStor to quantify the effect of the mounting orientation on the LTO8 drive performance. The tests were conducted on a new IBM LTO8 IBM Tape Drive supplied by Magstor, (Magstor PN SAS-HL8-8088), the standard Tape drive Doctor advanced test routines was used to conduct the tests.
Full Article found here: https://ltoworld.com/blogs/news/lto-8-mounting-orientation-effects-on-tape-drive-performance
CONCLUSION: Based on the data from testing the new IBM LTO8 drive, when the drive is mounted in the vertical direction, the drive delivered significantly worse performance than in the horizontal position. In this calibrated test, LTO Tape Driver Doctor, during repeated tests, measured as much as 3X slower performance when the drive was mounted in the vertical direction as compared the horizontal direction. Furthermore, the drive reported an order of magnitude increase in write servo skips in this drive. Large servo skip count indicates the potential for large losses of cartridge capacity that will reduce the total useable capacity of the LTO8 tape drive. Based on this test, we recommend mounting IBM LTO8 drives in the horizontal direction.
Abstract: The topic of the preferred mounting orientation of tape drives has been discussed for decades, clearly the drive mounting orientation will alter the head mass effect on the servo loop performance when the head is suspended by the actuator or resting on the guides. Over the years, number of tests were conducted on various DLT drives and even decades ago, the data showed a preferred drive mounting orientation can influence drive performance. Considering that quick review of the LTO8 shows the similar drive architecture to DLT, the question has remained unanswered if the drive mounting orientation can affect the drive performance. This study was recently requested by MagStor to quantify the effect of the mounting orientation on the LTO8 drive performance. The tests were conducted on a new IBM LTO8 IBM Tape Drive supplied by Magstor, (Magstor PN SAS-HL8-8088), the standard Tape drive Doctor advanced test routines was used to conduct the tests.
