Digital Linear Tape 1

Digital Linear Tape

Digital Linear Tape (DLT) (previously
called CompacTape) is a magnetic tape
data storage technology developed by
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) from
1984 onwards. In 1994 the technology was
purchased by Quantum Corporation, who
currently manufactures drives and licenses
the technology and trademark. A variant
with higher capacity is called Super DLT
(SDLT). The lower cost "value line" was
initially manufactured by Benchmark
Storage Innovations under license from
Quantum. Quantum acquired Benchmark in
2002.

A Super DLT I tape cartridge

History
DEC launched the TK50 tape drive for the MicroVAX II and PDP-11 minicomputers in 1984. This used 22-track
CompacTape I cartridges, storing 94 MB per cartridge. The TK50 was superseded in 1987 by the TK70 drive and the
48-track CompacTape II cartridge, capable of storing 294 MB. In 1989, the CompacTape III (later DLTtape III)
format was introduced, increasing the number of tracks to 128 and capacity to 2.6 GB. Later drives improved the
data density of the DLTtape III cartridge into the early 1990s, up to 10 GB. The DLTtape IV cartridge was
introduced by Quantum in 1994, with increased tape length and data density, initially offering 20 GB per tape. Super
DLTtape, originally capable of up to 110 GB, was launched in 2001.

Technology
DLT uses linear serpentine recording with multiple tracks on half-inch (12.7 mm) wide tape. The cartridges contain a
single reel and the tape is pulled out of the cartridge by means of a leader tape attached to the takeup reel inside the
drive. The drive leader tape is buckled to the cartridge leader during the load process. Tape speed and tension are
controlled electronically via the reel motors; there is no capstan. The tape is guided by 4 to 6 rollers that touch only
the back side of the tape. Tape material is metal particle tape (MP/AMP.)
SDLT adds an optical servo system that reads servo patterns on the back of the tape, in order to keep the data tracks
on the front of the tape correctly aligned with the read/write heads. This is important for newer tape media, which
have very thin, dense data tracks; 256, 384 and 768 data tracks on a 1⁄2-inch-wide (13 mm) tape are now common.
DLT7000 and 8000 tilt the head forward and backward to reduce crosstalk between adjacent tracks through azimuth;
this is called Symmetric Phase Recording.
All (S)DLT drives support hardware data compression. The often-used compression factor of 2:1 is optimistic and
generally only achievable for text data; a more realistic factor across a file system is 1.3:1 to 1.5:1. Note that drive
compression applied to pre-compressed data can actually make the written data larger than having compression
turned off in the tape drive.
Media are guaranteed for 30 years of data retention under specified environmental conditions; however, they are
easily damaged by mishandling (dropping or improper packaging during shipment.)
Digital Linear Tape 2

Current manufacturers of cartridges for the DLT/SDLT market are Fujifilm, Hitachi/Maxell and Imation. VStape is
made by Sony. All other companies/brands (even Quantum) are contractors and/or resellers of these companies.
A new naming convention took effect in 2005, calling the performance line DLT-S and the value line DLT-V.
DLT includes Write Once Read Many (WORM) capability.[1]
In February 2007, Quantum stopped developing the next generations of DLT drives (S5 and V5) after insufficient
market acceptance of the S4 and V4 drives, shifting its drive strategy to LTO.

Generations

Drives

Drive Capacity (GB) Interface Data Rate (MB/s) Date Media

TK50/TZ30 0.1 proprietary/SCSI 0.045 1984 CT I

TK70 0.3 proprietary 0.045 1987 CT II

THZ01/DLT260/Tx85 2.6 DSSI/SCSI 0.8 1989 DLT III

THZ02/DLT600/Tx86 6 DSSI/SCSI 0.8 1991 DLT III

DLT2000/Tx87 10 Fast SCSI-2 1.25 1993 DLT III

DLT2000XT 15 Fast SCSI-2 1.25 1995 DLT IIIXT

DLT4000/Tx88 20 Fast SCSI-2 1.5 1994 DLT IV

DLT7000/Tx89 35 Fast/Wide SCSI-2 5 1996 DLT IV

DLT8000 40 Fast/Wide SCSI-2 6 1999 DLT IV

SDLT 220 110 Ultra-2-Wide SCSI 11 1998 SDLT I

SDLT 320 160 Ultra-2-Wide SCSI 16 2002 SDLT I

SDLT 600 300 Ultra-160 SCSI/FC 2Gb 36 2004 SDLT II

SDLT 600A 300 GbE (FTP, HTTP) 36 2005 SDLT II

DLT-S4 800 Ultra-320 SCSI/FC 4Gb/SAS 60 2006 S4

DLT-S4A 800 GbE (FTP, HTTP) 60 2007 S4

Value line

DLT1 40 Fast/Wide SCSI-2 3 1999 DLT IV

DLT-VS80 40 Fast/Wide SCSI-2 3 2001 DLT IV

DLT-VS160 80 Ultra-2-Wide SCSI 8 2003 VS1

DLT-V4 160 [2] 10 2005 VS1

Ultra-160 SCSI/SATA/USB

Media
Digital Linear Tape 3

Name Formats (GB) Color Supported by (ro=read only)

CompacTape I 0.1 Gray TK50/TZ30, TK70 (ro)

CompacTape II 0.3 Gray TK70

DLTtape III 2.6, 6, 10 Light brown DLT260/600, DLT2000/2000XT/4000/7000

DLTtape IIIXT 15 White DLT2000XT/4000/7000/8000

DLTtape IV Dark brown DLT4000/7000/8000, DLT1/DLT-VS80[a], SDLT220/320 (ro)

20, 35, 40[a]

Cleaning Tape III 20 cleans Beige DLT2000/2000XT/4000/7000/8000

SDLTtape I 110, 160 Dark green SDLT220/320, SDLT600 (ro), DLT-S4 (ro)

SDLTtape II 300 Dark blue SDLT600, DLT-S4 (ro)

DLTtape S4 800 Dark purple DLT-S4

SDLT Cleaning Tape 20 cleans Light gray SDLT220/320/600, DLT-S4

DLTtape VS1 80, 160 Ivory/Black VS160, DLT-V4, SDLT600 (ro)

DLT VS Cleaning Tape 20 cleans Brown DLT1, DLT-VS80

DLT VS160 Cleaning Tape 20 cleans Light gray DLT-VS160, DLT-V4

a
  DLTtape IV can support both DLT4000/7000/8000 and DLT1/DLT-VS80 for full functions, however, once
DLTtape IV media has been written to or formatted in a DLT7000/8000 drive, this media cannot be read, written to,
or formatted in a DLT1/DLT-VS80 drive unless it is degaussed. Once the media has been written to or formatted in a
DLT4000 drive, the media cannot be written to or formatted in a DLT1/DLT-VS80 drive unless it is degaussed but it
can be read. This is because the DLT1/VS series use a different recording format that is not fully supported by the
other family.
Tapes written in value series drives can typically be read (and often written to) in higher end drives of a similar
vintage. The drive's technical specifications should contain interoperability options.

References
[1] DLTSage WORM functionality is available at no additional charge (http:/ / www. quantum. com/ Products/ TapeDrives/ DLT/
DLTSageWORM/ Index. aspx)
[2] The Quantum Online Store - Product Info (http:/ / store. quantum. com/ store/ quantum/ en_US/ pd/ productID. 120423300/ categoryID.
18026400/ parentCategoryID. 18026300)

External links
• Information about Quantum products from Official UK Dealer, Craystone (http://www.quantumdlt.co.uk)
• History of DLTtape Technology (http://learning.quantum.com/demo/history.htm), from TK50 1984 to
SDLT1 2001
• DLTtape Handbook (http://downloads.quantum.com/sdlt320/handbook.pdf), 8th ed. (Quantum 2001) (PDF)
• How to rethread a dropped leader (http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.
jsp?objectID=lpg50338)
• DLT Roadmap (http://www.dlttape.com/Roadmap/index.aspx) at dlttape.com (http://www.dlttape.com/)
• White Paper: Tape at Risk (http://www.quotium.com/products/StorSentry-White-Paper.pdf) by Quotium
Technologies
• Quantum Corp. (http://www.quantum.com/Products/TapeDrives/DLT/Index.aspx) DLT drive page
• Obituary (http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BRZ/is_7_19/ai_55867702) of Dr. Fred Hertrich,
"father" of DLT
Digital Linear Tape 4

Standards
• ECMA 197 (http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-197.htm) Specification of DLT
2. (http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/files/ecma-st/ECMA-197.pdf)
• ECMA 209 (http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-209.htm) Specification of DLT
3. (http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/files/ecma-st/ECMA-209.pdf)
• ECMA 231 (http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-231.htm) Specification of DLT
4. (http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/files/ecma-st/ECMA-231.pdf)
• ECMA 258 (http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-258.htm) Specification of DLT
3-XT. (http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/files/ecma-st/ECMA-258.pdf)
• ECMA 259 (http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-259.htm) Specification of DLT
5. (http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/files/ecma-st/ECMA-259.pdf)
• ECMA 286 (http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-286.htm) Specification of DLT
6. (http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/files/ecma-st/ECMA-286.pdf)
• ECMA 320 (http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-320.htm) Specification of
SDLT-1. (http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/files/ecma-st/ECMA-320.pdf)
Article Sources and Contributors 5

Article Sources and Contributors

Digital Linear Tape  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=391566791  Contributors: Abrahami, Abrown4407, Austinmurphy, Capricorn42, Chowbok, Chris the speller,
ClarkMills, Cometstyles, ConradPino, David Biddulph, Decvet, Edokter, Fortunato Navarro, GenXer, Ghettoblaster, Hellbus, Hobart, IvanStepaniuk, Jaccologtenberg, JayBaxter, Jeff3000, Jeh,
Jftuga, Johantheghost, KJRehberg, Kiand, Kubanczyk, Letdorf, Lightdarkness, Lovecz, MARQUIS111, MarkMLl, Meineemailadresse, Michael Hardy, Music Sorter, Pearle, Pedant17, Pixelface,
RJHall, Redjar, RevRagnarok, Rich Farmbrough, Rilak, Romal, Rrohbeck, Sfoskett, Shirik, Whiner01, Willy, your mate, Yettie0711, Zanaq, 59 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

Image:Super DLTtape I.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Super_DLTtape_I.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0  Contributors: Original
uploader was Austinmurphy at en.wikipedia. Later version(s) were uploaded by Silverxxx at en.wikipedia.

License
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