IBM TS2250 H5S LTO-5 and TS2240 H4V LTO-4 Drives

IBM TS23250 model H5S (SEO 6160S5E) and TS2240 tape drive model H4V (SEO 6160S4V) external stand-alone or rack mountable units are designed to offer capacity and performance for midrange systems environments.

TS2250 model H5S incorporates the IBM LTO Ultrium 5 half-high SAS tape drive. The TS2250 is designed to support the LTO-5 native data rate performance with up to 140MB/s compared to the TS2240 LTO half-high tape drive (Ultrium 4) at up to 120MB/s native data transfer rate. The TS2250 tape drive supports the LTO-5 media specifications with a compressed capacity of up to 3TB with 2 to 1 compression (up to 1.5 TB native capacity) compared to previous LTO-4 compressed capacity of up to 1,6TB with 2 to 1 compression (up to 800GB native capacity) per tape cartridge. The TS2250 can read and write to Ultrium 5 and Ultrium 4 cartridges, and is read compatible with Ultrium 3 cartridges. The Ultrium 5 tape drive is encryption capable and designed to support application-managed encryption.

The TS2250 Model H5S tape drive uses a 6Gb dual-port SAS interface for connection to a spectrum of system servers. TS2250 attaches to System x and PC servers.

The following TS2250 tape drive model H5S half-high LTO-5 tape drive enhancements are designed to help improve performance, capacity, and reliability:

• Native LTO-5 tape drive data transfer rate of up to 140MB/s
• Support for LTO-5 media specification tape cartridge compressed capacity of up to 3TB with 2 to 1 compression
• 6Gb SAS attachment support
• 512MB internal buffer
• Application managed encryption support for half-high LTO-5 SAS tape drives
• 8KB cartridge memory with Ultrium 5 media
• Half-high drive form factor
• Two SAS ports per drive to improve availability and attachability
• LTFS partitioning support
• Better integrated electronics using IBM engineered copper technology

TS2240 Model H4V incorporates the IBM LTO-4 full-high SAS tape drive. It is designed to support the LTO-4 native data rate performance of up to 120MB/s. It supports the LTO-4 media specifications with a compressed capacity of up to 1,6TB with 2 to 1 compression (up to 800GB native capacity). It can read and write to Ultrium 4 and Ultrium 3 cartridges, and is read compatible with Ultrium 2 data cartridges. The Ultrium 4 tape drive is encryption capable and designed to support application-managed encryption.

TS2240 model H4V tape drive uses a 6Gb.s dual-port SAS interface for connection to a wide spectrum of system servers. The TS2240 attaches to select System x and PC servers.

The following TS2240 Tape Drive Model H4V full-high LTO-4 tape drive enhancements are designed to help improve performance, capacity, and reliability:

• Native LTO-4 tape drive data transfer rate of up to 120MB/s
• Support for LTO-4 media specification tape cartridge compressed capacity of up to 1,6TB with 2 to 1 compression
• 6Gb SAS attachment support
• 256MB internal buffer
• Application managed encryption support for full-high LTO-4 SAS tape drives
• 8KB cartridge memory with Ultrium 4 media
• Half-high drive form factor
• Two SAS ports per drive to improve availability and attachability

The enclosure width allows two TS2250 or two TS2240 storage units to be mounted side by side in a 19-inch IBM server Rack Mount Shelf Kit (Feature AS1C; SEO 00NV426), requiring four EIA units (4U) of rack space.

The TS2250 or TS2240 provides a migration path from DLT or SDLT, 1/4 QIC, 4mm DAT, 8mm, or older LTO generation tape drives.

LTFS SDE software is included with each TS2250 and leverages LTO5 tape partitioning. It is designed to enable a self-describing tape file format and to deliver an easy tape storage and distribution solution without the use of additional database applications. Customers of IBM LTFS software are those who require a standard tape cartridge format at a low cost and will use stand-alone IBM LTO-5 tape drives. LTFS is well-suited for those in the media and entertainment industry, and other fields that need massive storage on tape for long retention periods, such as banking, scientific research, and government sectors.

Key prerequisites: Appropriate levels of host software are required to attach TS2250 and TS2240 tape drives to select System x and PC servers.