Category Archives for "Tape Drive Help"
The place to find help with tape drive related issues. This category includes everything from LTO Media inspection guides and SAS connector identification through to LTO drive cleaning guides.
LTO Media Compatibility Guide
Which LTO drive generations can read and write which LTO tape generations. Tape generation is set by the media/format used when the cartridge was written, not by the vendor of the drive.
Drive × tape compatibility matrix
Rows are the drive doing the reading/writing today. Columns are the tape generation the cartridge was originally written as. Hover a row or cell to trace it.
Read & write
Read only
Not supported
Tape generation (columns) →
| Drive ↓ / Tape → | LTO-1 | LTO-2 | LTO-3 | LTO-4 | LTO-5 | LTO-6 | LTO-7 | LTO-8 | LTO-9 | LTO-10 |
|---|
Key exceptions to know
The read‑2‑back / write‑1‑back rule held from LTO‑1 through LTO‑7. It narrows sharply from LTO‑8 onward.
LTO‑8 & LTO‑9
Only read/write one generation back instead of two. An LTO‑9 drive reads and writes LTO‑8 and LTO‑9 media only — it cannot read LTO‑7 tapes, even though LTO‑7 drives could read two generations back.
LTO‑10
Breaks the pattern entirely: LTO‑10 drives only read/write LTO‑10 media — no backward compatibility with any earlier generation. They do interchange between the 30 TB and 40 TB LTO‑10 cartridge types.
LTO‑7 Type M
LTO‑8 drives can reformat a new (unwritten) LTO‑7 cartridge as "Type M" (M8) to get ~9 TB native capacity. Type M cartridges are written and read on LTO‑8+ drives — a native LTO‑7 drive cannot use Type M media.
Plan around end‑of‑life
Because newer drives keep shrinking backward compatibility, don't assume a future drive purchase will read your oldest archived tapes. Migrate data forward before the reading drive generation is discontinued.
Generation specifications
Native and compressed capacity assumes a 2:1 ratio through LTO‑5 and 2.5:1 from LTO‑6 onward. Years and speeds are approximate/vendor-reported.
| Generation | Release | Native capacity | Compressed capacity | Native transfer rate |
|---|
