IBM Support

Tape Drive Model Characteristics - LTO and 3592 Drives

Troubleshooting


Problem

This document describes and lists different tape drive characteristics for the LTO and 3592 tape family.
Older tape drives and support are listed in the following document:

Resolving The Problem

Table 1:  LTO and 3592 Tape Drive Characteristics
Tape Unit
Type/Model		 System Release Supported
Media Type
Density
RO - Read Only
RW - Read/Write
See Note 2
 
Nominal Capacity
w/o compression
Native Data Rate
Supports Hardware Encryption EKM/SKLM
3580 Gen 1
(LTO1)		 R440 or higher
LTO1
*ULTRIUM1 (RW)
 100 GB (black) See Note 6
No
3580 Gen 2
(LTO2)		 R510 or higher
LTO1
LTO2
*ULTRIUM1 (RW)
*ULTRIUM2 (RW)
 100 Gb (Black)
200 Gb (Purple)		 See Note 6
No
3580 Gen 3
(LTO3)		 R520 or higher
LTO1
LTO2
LTO3
*ULTRIUM1 (RO)
*ULTRIUM2 (RW)
*ULTRIUM3( RW)
 100 Gb (Black)
200 Gb (Purple)
400 Gb(BlueGrey)		 See Note 6
No
3580 Gen 4
(LTO4)
5746 LTO 4		 R530 or higher
LTO2
LTO3
LTO4
*ULTRIUM2 (RO)
*ULTRIUM3 (RW)
*ULTRIUM4 (RW)
 200 Gb (Purple)
400 Gb(BlueGrey)
800 Gb (Green)		 See Note 6
Yes
See Note 8
3580 Gen 5
(LTO5)		 R611 or higher on IOP-less IOAs only on Power 6 and above
LTO3
LTO4
LTO5
*ULTRIUM3 (RO)
*ULTRIUM4 (RW)
*ULTRIUM5 (RW)
 400 Gb(BlueGrey)
800 Gb (Green)
1.5 Tb (Burgundy)		 See Note 6
Yes
See Note 8
3580 Gen 6
(LTO6)		 R611 or higher on IOP-less IOAs only on Power 6 and above
LTO4
LTO5
LTO6
*ULTRIUM4 (RO)
*ULTRIUM5 (RW)
*ULTRIUM6 (RW)
800 GB (Green)
1.5 TB (Burgundy)
2.5 TB (Black)
 See Note 6
Yes
See Note 8
3580 Gen 7
(LTO7)		 R710 or higher on IOP-less IOAs only on Power 6 and above
LTO5
LTO6
LTO7
*ULTRIUM5 (RO)
*ULTRIUM6 (RW)
*ULTRIUM7 (RW)
1.5 TB (Burgundy)
2.5 TB (Black)
6 TB (Purple)
 See Note 6
Yes
See Note 8
3580 Gen 8
(LTO8)
 R710 or higher on IOP-less IOAs
LTO7
LTO7w/M8 barcode
LTO8
*ULTRIUM7 (RW)
*ULTRIUMM8 (RW) (See Note 7)
*ULTRIUM8 (RW)
6 TB (Purple)
9 TB (Purple)

12 TB (Brick Red)
Up to
360MBpsFH
300MBps HH
see Note 6
Yes
See Note 8
3580 Gen 9
(LTO9)
 R720 or higher on IOP-less IOAs
LTO8
LTO9
*ULTRIUM8 (RW)
*ULTRIUM9 (RW)
12 TB (Brick Red)
18 TB (Green)
700MBps FH
see Note 6
Yes
See Note 8
3592 - J1A R5x0
See Table 2
*FMT3592A1
See Table 2
40 MB/s
No
3592 - E05
(TS1120)		 R520 or higher
See Table 2
*FMT3592A1
*FMT3592A2
FMT3592A2E
 See Table 2
See Note 9		 100 MB/s Yes

See Note 8
3592 - E06
(TS1130)		 R540 or higher
See Table 2
*FMT3592A1 (RO)
*FMT3592A2
*FMT3592A3
FMT3592A2E
FMT3592A3E
 See Table 2
See Note 9		 160 MB/s Yes

See Note 8
3592 - E07
(TS1140)		 R611 or higher on IOP-lessIOA only on Power 6 and above
See Table 2
*FMT3592A1 (RO)
(<- if drive FW is D3I3_5CD or up)
*FMT3592A2 (RO)
FMT3592A2E (RO)
*FMT3592A3 (RW)
*FMT3592A4 (RW)
FMT3592A3E(RW)
FMT3592A4E(RW)
See Table 2

 
See Table 2
See Note 9
 250 MB/s
Yes

See Note 8
3592 - E08
(TS1150)		 R611 or higher on IOP-lessIOA only on Power 6 and above
See Table 2
*FMT3592A4 (RW)
*FMT3592A5 (RW)
FMT3592A4E(RW)
FMT3592A5E(RW)
See Table 2
See Note 9
 360 MB/s
Yes

See Note 8
3592 - 55F
(TS1155)
 R710 or higher on IOP-lessIOAs See Table 2
*FMT3592A4 (RO)
*FMT3592A5 (RW)
FMT3592A4E (RO)
FMT3592A5E(RW)
*FMT3592B5 (RW)
FMT3592B5E(RW)
 See Table 2 360 MB/s
3592 - 60F
(TS1160)
 R720 or higher on IOP-lessIOAs See Table 2
*FMT3592A4 (RO)
*FMT3592A5 (RW)
FMT3592A4E (RO)
FMT3592A5E(RW)
*FMT3592B5(RW)
FMT3592B5E(RW)
*FMT3592A6(RW)
FMT3592A6E(RW)
 See Table 2 400 MB/s
3592 - 70F
(TS1170)
 R730 or higher on IOP-Less IOA See Table 2
*FMT3592A7(RW)
FMT3592A7E(RW)
 See Table 2 400 MB/s
     
 
Table 2 ...  3592 Media Capacities
Format Cartridge TS1170 TS1160 TS1155 TS1150 TS1140 TS1130 TS1120 3592 J1A
FMT3592A1 J1A
RO or RW
JJ/JR
JA/JW
RO
128 GB
640 GB
RW
100 GB
500GB
RW
60 GB
300 GB
FMT3592A2 E05
RO or RW
JB/JX
RO
700 GB
RW
700 GB
RW
700 GB
FMT3592A3 E06
RO or RW
JB/JX
RW
1000 GB
RW
1000 GB
FMT3592A4 E07
RO or RW
JB/JX
JK
JC/JY
RO
-
500 GB
4 TB
RO
-
500 GB
4 TB
RW
-
500 GB
4 TB
RW
1600 GB
500 GB
4 TB
FMT3592A5 E08
RO or RW
JK
JC/JY
JL
JD/JZ
RW
900 GB
7 TB
2 TB
10 TB
RW
900 GB
7 TB
2 TB
10 TB
RW
900 GB
7 TB
2 TB
10 TB
FMT3592B5 55F
RO or RW
JL
JD/JZ
RW
3 TB
15 TB
RW
3 TB
15 TB
FMT3592A6 60F
RO or RW
JM
JE/JV
RW
5 TB
20 TB
FMT3592A7
70F
JF
RW
50 TB
TABLE 3:  Tape Library Characteristics
System i Name Marketing Name
Modes of Operation
Maximum Number of Drives
Number of Tape Cartridges
I/O Station
Fiber/SCSI/SAS
3584 DiamondBack Random Only 14 LTO9 1548
Yes
14
 Fiber
3584 TS4500

(V6R1M1 and above only)		 Random Only 60 drives per string
(1 base and 3 exp frm)
LTO5/6 & TS1140/50		 4690 (10/2014) Yes
36 (TS11xx)
32 (LTOx)
3584 TS3500 Random Only 192 (12 drives per frame) L23 models - 6260
L53 models - 6887		 Yes - 16 or 32
All
(See Note 10)
3583 3583 Random Only 6 LTO1/2/3 Drives 72 Yes - 1 or 12
Fiber/SCSI
(See Note 11)
3582 3582 Random/ Sequential 2 LTO1/2/3 Drives 23 Yes - 1
Fiber/SCSI
(See Note 11)
3581 (Hxx) 3581 (Hxx) Random/ Sequential 1 LTO1 Drive 7 No SCSI (HVD)
3581 (Lx8/Fx8) 3581 (Lx8/Fx8) Random/ Sequential 1 LTO2/3 Drive 8 No
Fiber/SCSI
(see Note 12)
3576 TS3310 Random Only 18 LTO3/4/5/6 Drives 396 Yes - 6 to 54
All
(See Note 13)
3572 TS2900 Random/ Sequential 1 Half High LTO3/4/5/6 Drive 9 (8 with I/O station) 1 Fiber/SAS
3573 TS3100 Random/ Sequential 1 LTO3/4/5/6 Drives
2 half high LTO3/4/5/6 Drives		 24 Yes - 1 All
3573 TS3200 Random/ Sequential 2 LTO3/4/5/6 Drives
4 half high LTO3/4/5/6 Drives		 48 Yes - 3 All
3577 TS3400 Random / Sequential 2 3592 E05 drives 18 Yes-3 Fiber
3555 TS4300 Random / Sequential
LTO6, LTO7, LTO8 drives
Base - 1 FH to 3 HH or 2 comb
Max - 7 FH to 21 HH or comb
 Base model - 32
Max (Base+6units) - 272		 Base model - 5
Max (Base+6 units) - 35		 Fiber/SAS
NOTES:
1. All 3592 and LTO tape drives support Optimum Blocking.
2.
RO indicates Read Only Support and RW indicates Read and Write Support.  No or - indicates not supported.
When a invalid density or a tape device cannot initialize a cartridge to the density specified in the DENSITY parameter, *CTGTYPE will be used. CPC6771 may state that the cartridge was identified with the density specified by the customer but DSPTAP will list the highest density the cartridge can be initialized to.
3. 3592 and LTO tape drives support Data Compaction and do not support Data compression
4. Data Compaction is a term used to describe a data recording option for compacting (or compressing) data prior to writing to the tape media. Selecting the data compaction option will usually result in an increase in both capacity and data transfer rate. The typical compaction ratio is 2:1, however, it is dependent upon the type of data. The IBM OS/400 or IBM i5/OS SAVxxx command parameter COMPACT is used to select the data compaction option, except for those cases identified by Yes* in the Data Compaction column. A Yes* indicates that the compaction option is controlled entirely by the format (density) selected during the tape initialization operation. The OS/400 or i5/OS SAVxxx command parameter COMPACT will have no effect in these cases.
5. LTO cartridges are drive type dependent. This means that in order to write at a specific density, you need to have the correct cartridge. 3592 cartridges are not drive type dependent. Any cartridge can be formatted at any of the supported densities
6.
Data Transfer rates are limited by the drive and by the IOA the drive is connected to.
Data Rates vary per Full Height (FH) and Half height (HH) model as well as between Fibre Channel and SAS interfaces
7. Using new LTO7 cartridges with Type M8 barcode label initialized using a supported tape media library. 
Supported on TS4500, TS4300, TS3310 and TS2900 with the latest library firmware
8. LTO4/5/6/7 TS1120 TS1130 only supported when in a Tape library like TS3500, TS3400 TS3100 TS3200 TS3310 TS2900 3494.
TS1140/TS1150 drives are only supported in TS3500 and TS4500 tape libraries
9. Densities FMT3592A1E, FMT3592A2E, FMT3592A3E and FMT3592A4E are supported only on TS1120, TS1130 and TS1140s in TS3500 (3584) or TS3400 (3577).
10. Supports up to 12 drives per frame (up to 16 frames with 192 tape drives per library). 3592 and LTO drives cannot be in the same frame.
L23 ‘Entry’ - 58; L23 ‘Intermediate’ - 117; L23 ‘Full’ - 199 to 260; D23 - 360 to 400; Total: Up to 6,260
L53 ‘Entry’ - 64; L53 ‘Intermediate’ - 129; L53 ‘Full’ - 219 to 287; D53 - 396 to 440; Total: Up to 6,887
11. Drives can be LTO1, LTO2, or LTO3.
12. Drives can be LTO2 or LTO3 drives.
13. Supports up to 10 LTO Generation 3 tape drives (maximum 2 drives for the base Model L5B library and 4 drives for each expansion module E9U).
Base Model L5B: 30 storage and 6 I/O.
Expansion module, Model E9U: 92 storage or 80 storage and 12 I/O.

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Modified date:
25 September 2023

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ibm16602771

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