IBM Systems and Technology

Data Sheet

IBM 3592 Advanced Data

Cartridge
High-capacity tape media engineered for the enterprise

Overview
Highlights Today’s enterprise data centers face unprecedented data protection
challenges. They must satisfy increasing demands for data retention,
Investment protection
security and availability while contending with reduced budgets. The
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Increased capacity and flexibility IBM 3592 Advanced Data Cartridge was developed to help enterprise
data centers address these challenges.
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Enhanced data security

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Maximum Reliability
Investment protection
With enterprise tape libraries holding thousands of cartridges, the afford-
ability of keeping the technology current can be significantly impacted by
the cost of upgrading the tape media. The IBM 3592 Advanced Data
Cartridge helps enterprise users mitigate the impact of a tape subsystem
upgrade by enabling the drive to reformat prior generation media
cartridges to the current generation tape drive. This capability, called
Media Reuse, enables the IBM 3592 Tape Drive to reformat the cartridge
so that it takes on both the performance and capacity characteristics of
the latest generation tape technology. This enables enterprise customers
to increase existing tape library capacity by up to 60 percent without
purchasing any new media.

Increased capacity and flexibility

Each successive generation of the TS1100 Tape Drive has provided
greater read/write speeds and higher storage capacities. The new 3592
Advanced Data Cartridge enables enterprise data center administrators to
increase tape library capacities by up to 1200 percent depending on the
generation of tape drive and media they currently utilize. These increased
capacities can help users defer new hardware purchases, reduce storage
management requirements, and expand their data archive by simply
upgrading their tape drives and/or media. For administrators who require
rapid data access or who are looking to lower media costs, IBM offers two
different sizes of 3592 tape cartridges. The IBM Economy Cartridges
offer the same quality and benefits as our standard length cartridges but
in shorter lengths. These shorter length cartridges are less expensive and
enable faster seek times.
IBM Systems and Technology
Data Sheet

Enhanced data security

Data enables innovation, it enables growth and it helps gain
competitive advantage. Failure to safeguard data can lead to
business disruption, lost productivity, negative customer
satisfaction, and penalties from regulatory violations. The
IBM 3592 Advanced Data Cartridge is designed to protect your
data with features such as WORM cartridges, encryption and
the ability—in conjunction with the tape drive—to monitor
cartridge life. These capabilities work together to help ensure
that stored data is secure from loss or corruption.

Maximum reliability
To meet the rigorous standards of enterprise data centers, the
IBM 3592 Advanced Data Cartridge features a memory chip
that stores performance and usage records. These records are
used to proactively determine whether the tape needs to be Ordering options
replaced. The cartridge utilizes thick plastics, ultrasonic welding IBM 3592 Advanced Data Cartridges are available in packs
techniques and tamper-proof screws to provide protection of 20, and cleaning cartridges come in packs of five. Data
against accidental damage. And the media uses a uniform, ultra- cartridges can be purchased with or without EBCDIC initial-
smooth magnetic layer with a refined coating to improve media ization and both IBM 3592 Advanced Data Cartridges and
reliability, increase performance and minimize tape head wear. cleaning cartridges can be purchased with or without labels
required for use in an IBM tape library.

Feature Benefits

Media reuse and ●● ●

Eliminates the need to change media when upgrading your tape drives
up-formatting ●● ●
Increases capacity without changing media or increasing library size
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Offers investment protection
Reinforced cartridge ●● ●
Safeguards against accidental drops
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Helps protect your data
Partitioning/IBM Linear ●● ●
Can eliminate middleware and reduce tape management costs
Tape File System™† ●● ●
Improves usability by displaying the data stored on the tape in a file tree structure
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Opens new opportunities for leveraging tape technology in entertainment, manufacturing and medical
environments
Virtual backhitch support* ●● ●
Improves performance for small file reads/writes
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Helps reduce media wear
Industry standard ●● ●
Enables users to address security concerns by writing encrypted data to tape
encryption* ●● ●
Is compatible across all TS1120 and newer tape drives
High resolution tape ●● ●
Allows high speed search
directory† ●● ●
Increases system performance by retrieving data faster
Statistical Analysis and ●● ●
Tape drive monitors cartridge life and usage
Reporting System (SARS)* ●● ●
Helps eliminate data loss due to cartridge failure
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Provides increased data protection
Scaled media ●● ●
Provides the ability use a standard tape in a rapid access mode
Economy cartridges ●● ●
Provides faster access to data by reducing the length of the media
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Reduces cost of ownership through a lower cost per cartridge
Data safe mode ●● ●
Provides WORM-like protection using a standard 3592 cartridge

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IBM Systems and Technology
Data Sheet

Characteristics

Weight 239 g (8.4 oz) Toxicity Nonhazardous to human health in

anticipated use
Estimated archive life Up to 30 years Flammability Self-extinguishing per UL94
Load/unload 20,000 load, unload and initialization Temperature 16°C - 32°C (60°F - 90°F)
cycles
Dimensions 24.5 mm H × 109 mm W × 125 mm Wet bulb maximum 23°C (73.4°F)
D (0.97 in × 4.3 in × 4.9 in)
Warranty Limited lifetime: Free from manufac- Relative humidity 20% - 80%
turing and material defects useful life
of product
Tape length JK: 479 ft nominal (146 m) JJ/JR: 807 ft nominal (246 m) JB/JX: 2706 ft nominal (825 m)
JC/JY: 2887 ft nominal (880 m) JA/JW: 2001 ft nominal (610 m)

Cartridge Capacities

Drive Type 3592 J1A TS1120 TS1130 TS1140

Cartridge Type JJ/JR JA/JW JJ/JR JA/JW JB/JX JJ/JR JA/JW JB/JX JJ/JR JA/JW JB/JX JC/JY JK
Native Capacity (GB)
Gen 1 Mode 60 300 60 300 60 300 60** 300**
Gen 2 Mode 100 500 700 100 500 70 100** 500** 700**
Gen 3 Mode 128 640 1,000 128** 640** 1,000
Gen 4 Mode 1,600 4,000 500
Open System Capacity 2:1 compression (GB)
Gen 1 Mode 120 600 120 600 120 600
Gen 2 Mode 200 1,000 1,400 200 1,000 1,400 1,400
Gen 3 Mode 256 1,280 2,000 2,000
Gen 4 Mode 3,200 8,000 1,000
System z Capacity 3:1 compression (GB)
Gen 1 Mode 180 900 180 900 180 900
Gen 2 Mode 300 1,500 2,100 300 1,500 2,100 2,100
Gen 3 Mode 384 1,920 3,000 3,000
Gen 4 Mode 4,800 12,000 1,500

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For more information
To learn more about IBM 3592 Advanced Data Cartridge,
please contact your IBM representative or IBM Business
Partner, or visit ibm.com/systems/storage/media

© Copyright IBM Corporation 2012

You may also contact 1-888-IBM-MEDIA (1-888-426-6334).
IBM Systems and Technology Group
Route 100
Somers, NY 10589

Produced in the United States of America

July 2012

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This document is current as of the initial date of publication and may be

changed by IBM at any time. Not all offerings are available in every country
in which IBM operates. It is the user’s responsibility to evaluate and verify
the operation of any other products or programs with IBM products and
programs. THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS
PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS
OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES
OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE AND ANY WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF
NON-INFRINGEMENT. IBM products are warranted according to the
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The client is responsible for ensuring compliance with laws and regulations
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that its services or products will ensure that the client is in compliance with
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intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and represent
goals and objectives only.

Actual available storage capacity may be reported for both uncompressed

and compressed data and will vary and may be less than stated.
* When used on TS1120 and newer tape drives
† When used on TS1140 and newer tape drives
** Read only

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