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from the who-still-remembers-the-write-enable-ring? dept.
IBM and FUJIFILM have demonstrated the equivalent of an LTO magnetic tape cartridge with a capacity of 220 terabytes.
To achieve 123 billion bits per square inch, IBM researchers developed several new technologies, including:
- A set of advanced servo control technologies that include a high bandwidth head actuator, a servo pattern and servo channel and a set of tape speed optimized H-infinity track follow controllers that together enable head positioning with an accuracy better than 6 nanometers. This enables a track density of 181,300 tracks per inch, a more than 39 fold increase over LTO6.
- An enhanced write field head technology that enables the use of much finer barium ferrite (BaFe) particles.
- Innovative signal-processing algorithms for the data channel, based on noise-predictive detection principles, enable reliable operation with an ultra narrow 90nm wide giant magnetoresistive (GMR) reader.
Rumors of tape's death are greatly exaggerated; LTO-6 tape pricing has fallen to $0.02 per GB, and a record 6.6 exabytes of tape were shipped in Q3 2014. The LTO roadmap calls for 48 terabyte LTO-10 tapes at some point in the future. Each new generation of LTO roughly doubles capacity, so a 200 TB LTO-12 tape may be slated for 2030.
In April 2014, Sony announced the development of 148 Gb/in2 tape that could enable a 185 TB tape cartridge. A month later, IBM and FUJIFILM announced that they had achieved the equivalent of an 85.9 Gb/in2, 154 TB tape. The new tape is based on the same NANOCUBIC™ technology.
Edit: Changed to reflect a tape cost of $8/TB compressed, $20/TB uncompressed.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by kaszz on Monday April 13 2015, @12:31AM
Alright so what price will the read/write unit go for? and tapes? and can a 6 nm head positioning be reliable? at that distance funny things happens in physics! 0.01 US$/GByte sounds really nice. Provided that actually translates into a price when drive unit and tape is accounted for. And you want to make sure there's a backup drive unit in case the first one goes bad. And a second source for tapes to keep your unit usable.
And what about the price and reliability for those drives with now older technology?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday April 13 2015, @12:51AM
I've changed it to 0.02 US$/GByte uncompressed. It is 0.008 US$/GByte using 2.5:1 compression to turn a 2.5 TB LTO-6 uncompressed tape into a 6.25 TB LTO-6 compressed tape. Thanks, marketeers.
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(Score: 2) by isostatic on Monday April 13 2015, @03:10AM
Provided that actually translates into a price when drive unit and tape is accounted for. And you want to make sure there's a backup drive unit in case the first one goes bad. And a second source for tapes to keep your unit usable.
Drive cost is negligable. Say you want to store at 2.5T per tape.
I'm assuming now $50 per tape, and $2k for a drive. So say you get 4 drives, $8k. That's 15% of the total cost for a small installation, and under 1% for a large one.