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Tape Drives

Tape Drives covers generations of backup hardware: Ultrium LTO drives such as Quantum's LTO-3 half-height units, Compaq DLT2000, DLT8000 and SDLT drives, DDS/DAT drives from IBM and DEC, and Travan drives for very old systems. Internal, rack-mount and external versions are listed, with SCSI, SAS and Fibre Channel interfaces depending on the generation. When replacing a drive, the formats of the tapes already in your vault decide what you can buy.

Tape Drives: 2,456 products

Buying guide

Picking a tape drive

  1. Read compatibility

    LTO-5, 6 and 7 drives read cartridges two generations older and write one back. LTO-8 and LTO-9 only handle the generation immediately before them.

  2. Interface

    SAS drives connect to an HBA with external SAS ports; Fibre Channel drives sit on a SAN. Older SCSI drives need an LVD SCSI adapter.

  3. Half-height or full-height

    Half-height LTO drives fit smaller chassis and autoloaders; full-height drives generally sustain higher throughput. Check what your enclosure accepts.

Tape Drives

Frequently asked questions

Can an LTO-8 drive read my LTO-6 tapes?

No. LTO-8 reads and writes LTO-7 and LTO-8 only. To restore LTO-6 tapes you need an LTO-6 or LTO-7 drive.

What's the difference between native and compressed capacity?

Native is what the tape holds uncompressed. Compressed figures assume 2:1 compression for LTO-1 through LTO-5 and 2.5:1 from LTO-6 onward, so real results depend on your data.