LTO (Linear Tape-Open)
Reddit take
Not enough linked mention summaries yet; the source excerpts below are the evidence.
Pros
- LTO last longer.
- LTO shines for long term cold storage and big institutional workflows, but the drives, software, and habits around it are a commitment.
- LTO would be considered more reliable for long term storage because they have no electronic parts. However they really are used because they are cheap per TB, and they are easy to transport safely.
- It's the highest density non-HDD storage medium available currently and far more suited to cold storage than drives.
Cons
- LTO as a backup only (ever tried to recover a few TB from tape? it's not exactly fun or fast)
- They also have a much lower barrier to entry than LTO, the other format worth thinking about. ... M-Disc has a low startup cost and a very high price per GB; vice versa for LTO.
- Very few trains use LTO, too expensive.
- Parent context: I'm skeptical about LTO longevity. LTO media has 8K tracks, but the head can do only 32 tracks at once, so for complete write drive has to make 260+ passes. Insane wear&tear. Reply: LTO longevity as in unpowered, shelf st...
- Parent context: I thought existing LTO technology was rated for 100 years? Reply: 10~30 depending on storage conditions afaik.
Sentiment
4 positive (36%) · 4 mixed (36%) · 3 negative (27%)
Trust + time weighted score: +8% · raw score 9%
What redditors said (10 of 11)
LTO last longer.
LTO as a backup only (ever tried to recover a few TB from tape? it's not exactly fun or fast)
LTO shines for long term cold storage and big institutional workflows, but the drives, software, and habits around it are a commitment.
They also have a much lower barrier to entry than LTO, the other format worth thinking about. ... M-Disc has a low startup cost and a very high price per GB; vice versa for LTO.
Very few trains use LTO, too expensive.
Parent context: I'm skeptical about LTO longevity. LTO media has 8K tracks, but the head can do only 32 tracks at once, so for complete write drive has to make 260+ passes. Insane wear&tear. Reply: LTO longevity as in unpowered, shelf stable storage. What you're referring to is write endurance, which LTO is very poor at. Read/write endurance is irrelevant for backups.
Parent context: I'm skeptical about LTO longevity. LTO media has 8K tracks, but the head can do only 32 tracks at once, so for complete write drive has to make 260+ passes. Insane wear&tear. Reply: Different longevity: being stored, not being constantly rewritten. If you're going to rewrite the same tape weekly LTO is a terrible choice, but that's also not how you use it.
LTO would be considered more reliable for long term storage because they have no electronic parts. However they really are used because they are cheap per TB, and they are easy to transport safely.
Parent context: I thought existing LTO technology was rated for 100 years? Reply: 10~30 depending on storage conditions afaik.
And even if it does appear and they don't go bust like all the rest, it will be priced like a 200TB LTO would be.
Compare
LTO (Linear Tape-Open) vs Patriot P400 LiteLTO (Linear Tape-Open) vs 1TB SSDLTO (Linear Tape-Open) vs Crucial T710
Related
- Intel Arc B580 · related · 444 mentions
- Samsung 990 Pro · related · 340 mentions
- Spironolactone · related · 332 mentions
- Toyota Prius · related · 329 mentions
- Kia EV6 · related · 316 mentions
- Tesla Model Y · related · 301 mentions