News

posted on 18 July 2008 08:53

LTO tape media supplier Fujifilm has announced DC Analyser, an LTO cartridge health check product.

DC Analyser reads the historical information about the tape's age, use and condition stored in the cartridge memory (CM) chip, using a low-power radio frequency (RF) reader. The CM chip retains basic diagnostic information over a period of time, including percentage of record errors, amount of data read/written, number of cartridge loads and the age of the cartridge.

Daniel Greenberg, New Product Planning Manager at Fujifilm Recording Media, said: "Our experience is that when there is a tape back up problem in a busy data center, a common first reaction is to blame the media. This tool will help data managers quickly identify if the source of the problem is the cartridge or if a cartridge issue is a symptom of a malfunctioning drive or unbalanced backup and network."

With LTO-4 catridges holding 800GB of raw data there is a strong need to ensure that tape cartridges are in good condition, that drives can read them, and to detect failing cartridges so that their data contents can be copied before the cartridge becomes unreadable.

Fujifilm states that, 'by providing access to this information through a simple RF reader combined with standard barcode scanning technology, the Fujifilm DC Analyser puts key diagnostic and logistic data at the fingertips of the data manager, helping to quickly locate the root cause and prevent backup issues without the need to access a drive, call in outside technicians or send sensitive data out to a third party for evaluation.'

DC Analyser costs a suggested $3,000 from Fujifilm's channel partners.

Note that Spectra Logic tape automation users can get the same functionality at no cost at all. Its equivalent Media Lifecycle Management  software  is included with Spectra's BlueScale library software.

Neither piece of software actually reads the tape. Only Tapewise has a product that does that, and it supports more formats than just LTO.

^{[Martin Edwards, news editor.]}