Glossary of Terms

It can be confusing to know which type of tape storage device to buy with all of the different acronyms and terms that are used in the product descriptions.  This glossary is to help educate you on the various terms and their meanings.  For more information, please contact our sales department at 763-577-0803.   Thanks for shopping with TapeDrives.us!

LTO

Linear Tape-Open (or LTO) is a magnetic tape data storage technology developed as an open alternative to the proprietary Digital Linear Tape (DLT). The technology was developed and initiated by Seagate, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM. The standard form-factor of LTO technology goes by the name "Ultrium".

DDS

Digital Data Storage (DDS) is a format for storing and backing up computer data on magnetic tape that evolved from Digital Audio Tape (DAT) technology, which was originally created for CD-quality audio recording.

DLT

Digital Linear Tape (DLT) (previously called CompacTape) is a magnetic tape data storage technology developed by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) from 1984 onwards. In 1994 the technology was purchased by Quantum Corporation, who currently manufactures drives and licenses the technology and trademark. A variant with higher capacity is called Super DLT (SDLT). The lower cost "value line" was initially manufactured by Benchmark Storage Innovations under license from Quantum. Quantum acquired Benchmark in 2002.

DAT

Digital Audio Tape (DAT or R-DAT) is a signal recording and playback medium developed by Sony in the mid 1980s. In appearance it is similar to a compact audio cassette, using 4 mm magnetic tape enclosed in a protective shell, but is roughly half the size at 73 mm × 54 mm × 10.5 mm. As the name suggests the recording is digital rather than analog, DAT converting and recording at higher, equal or lower sampling rates than a CD (48, 44.1 or 32 kHz sampling rate, and 16 bits quantization). If a digital source is copied then the DAT will produce an exact clone, unlike other digital media such as Digital Compact Cassette or non-Hi-MD MiniDisc, both of which use lossy data compression.

SCSI

SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, and electrical and optical interfaces. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape drives, but it can connect a wide range of other devices, including scanners and CD drives. The SCSI standard defines command sets for specific peripheral device types; the presence of "unknown" as one of these types means that in theory it can be used as an interface to almost any device, but the standard is highly pragmatic and addressed toward commercial requirements.

ULTRIUM

1/2" magnetic tape has been used for data storage for more than 50 years. In the mid 1980s, IBM and DEC put this kind of tape into a single reel, enclosed cartridge. IBM called their cartridge 3480. DEC's DLT was later sold to Quantum. Both technologies have evolved since then and are still widely available. LTO Ultrium was developed as a (more or less) drop-in replacement for DLT. This made it easy for robotic tape library vendors to convert their DLT libraries into LTO libraries.