April 24, 2019 at 20:55Magnetic tape in the 21st century - how to use it
Magnetic tape has not completely disappeared and is still being used in data centers. Photos - Don DeBold - CC BY
This is one of the main advantages of magnetic tapes. When commercial hard drives with a capacity of 1 GB appeared on store shelves in the mid-nineties , DDS-3 tape cartridges already contained twelve times more information.
In our time, a similar situation has developed. Modern cartridges contain almost a kilometer of tape with a width of 12.6 millimeters. Up to 30 TB of compressed data can be written to it. At the same time, the volume of hard disks for the enterprise segment only recently approached the mark of 16 TB.
The cost of storing data on magnetic tape is much lower than that of any other drives. One gigabyte on the hard drive costs about $ 0.025. For the tape, this figure is $ 0.008. A case is known with one large genetic laboratory, when the transition to magnetic tape reduced the cost of storing data from $ 800 thousand to only $ 7 thousand.
At the same time, large IT companies today continue to develop technologies that expand the capabilities of magnetic tapes. For example, in 2017, IBM engineers introduced a recording method that would save 330 TB of uncompressed data in a palm-sized LTO cartridge .
It is known that errors on magnetic tape occur four to five orders of magnitude less than in HDD. With proper storage, cartridges can last about 30 years. This is more than any other popular drives today - HDD or SSD. According to statistics from one of the largest cloud providers, the average life of a hard drive rarely exceeds four years. As for solid state drives, according to some reports, they will live about ten years, but only if the devices are regularly used .
IT companies are still developing technologies whose mission is to extend the life of the magnetic tape. Two years ago, IBM and Sony introducedfilm coated with an additional lubricating layer. It protects the surface of the tape from damage when it moves at a speed of ten meters per second while reading.
One of the main reasons for the "renaissance" of magnetic tape is the fact that many of the shortcomings that it had in its early years have been corrected today. Previously, the drive implied only sequential access to data, so it took 50-60 seconds to search and read information. For comparison, on a hard drive, this figure is 5-10 milliseconds.
Modern technology has leveled off the impact of this drawback. New cartridges support the LTFS file system . It indexes the contents of the tape, which speeds up the reading of data and creates the illusion of random access to them.
Moreover, tape stores installed in data centers are automated . Large-scale robotic libraries may occupywhole engine room . Special manipulators perform an automatic search for the necessary cartridges and quickly load them into readers.
Photo - USDA - PD
Companies that need to process (and archive) a large amount of data. First of all, IT giants and cloud providers. Tapes store backups and other rarely used data. For example, in 2011, a bug in the system led to the deletion of letters from Gmail users. Then Google restored data from magnetic tapes.
Research organizations such as CERN also use magnetic tapes. Every second, the Large Hadron Collider generates one gigabyte of data . The total amount of information collected by the Institute to this day exceeds 330 petabytes.
For their storage, the organization uses the CASTOR tape system developed by CERN engineers. It is regularly updated and converted to more advanced types of cartridges to increase capacity, reliability and speed. The organization gives out decommissioned drives to investors as souvenirs.
Also among the users of magnetic tape can be distinguished IT companies that work in the field of Big Data and develop artificial intelligence systems. The drive is used to store data generated by IoT devices. For example, just one unmanned vehicle can collect up to 30 TB of data per day.
Each year, the amount of data that humanity generates exponentiallyis growing. The spread of IoT devices, artificial intelligence systems, this only exacerbates. The number of companies using magnetic tape solutions will grow with these markets. There are technologies like DNA storages , which in the future will replace magnetic tape at the “cold storage” post, but so far there is no need to talk about their practical implementation on a large scale.
Other practical materials about IT infrastructure:
High capacity
This is one of the main advantages of magnetic tapes. When commercial hard drives with a capacity of 1 GB appeared on store shelves in the mid-nineties , DDS-3 tape cartridges already contained twelve times more information.
In our time, a similar situation has developed. Modern cartridges contain almost a kilometer of tape with a width of 12.6 millimeters. Up to 30 TB of compressed data can be written to it. At the same time, the volume of hard disks for the enterprise segment only recently approached the mark of 16 TB.
Low cost of data storage
The cost of storing data on magnetic tape is much lower than that of any other drives. One gigabyte on the hard drive costs about $ 0.025. For the tape, this figure is $ 0.008. A case is known with one large genetic laboratory, when the transition to magnetic tape reduced the cost of storing data from $ 800 thousand to only $ 7 thousand.
At the same time, large IT companies today continue to develop technologies that expand the capabilities of magnetic tapes. For example, in 2017, IBM engineers introduced a recording method that would save 330 TB of uncompressed data in a palm-sized LTO cartridge .
Durability
It is known that errors on magnetic tape occur four to five orders of magnitude less than in HDD. With proper storage, cartridges can last about 30 years. This is more than any other popular drives today - HDD or SSD. According to statistics from one of the largest cloud providers, the average life of a hard drive rarely exceeds four years. As for solid state drives, according to some reports, they will live about ten years, but only if the devices are regularly used .
IT companies are still developing technologies whose mission is to extend the life of the magnetic tape. Two years ago, IBM and Sony introducedfilm coated with an additional lubricating layer. It protects the surface of the tape from damage when it moves at a speed of ten meters per second while reading.
Technological progress
One of the main reasons for the "renaissance" of magnetic tape is the fact that many of the shortcomings that it had in its early years have been corrected today. Previously, the drive implied only sequential access to data, so it took 50-60 seconds to search and read information. For comparison, on a hard drive, this figure is 5-10 milliseconds.
Modern technology has leveled off the impact of this drawback. New cartridges support the LTFS file system . It indexes the contents of the tape, which speeds up the reading of data and creates the illusion of random access to them.
Moreover, tape stores installed in data centers are automated . Large-scale robotic libraries may occupywhole engine room . Special manipulators perform an automatic search for the necessary cartridges and quickly load them into readers.
Photo - USDA - PD
Who uses magnetic tape
Companies that need to process (and archive) a large amount of data. First of all, IT giants and cloud providers. Tapes store backups and other rarely used data. For example, in 2011, a bug in the system led to the deletion of letters from Gmail users. Then Google restored data from magnetic tapes.
Research organizations such as CERN also use magnetic tapes. Every second, the Large Hadron Collider generates one gigabyte of data . The total amount of information collected by the Institute to this day exceeds 330 petabytes.
For their storage, the organization uses the CASTOR tape system developed by CERN engineers. It is regularly updated and converted to more advanced types of cartridges to increase capacity, reliability and speed. The organization gives out decommissioned drives to investors as souvenirs.
Also among the users of magnetic tape can be distinguished IT companies that work in the field of Big Data and develop artificial intelligence systems. The drive is used to store data generated by IoT devices. For example, just one unmanned vehicle can collect up to 30 TB of data per day.
Each year, the amount of data that humanity generates exponentiallyis growing. The spread of IoT devices, artificial intelligence systems, this only exacerbates. The number of companies using magnetic tape solutions will grow with these markets. There are technologies like DNA storages , which in the future will replace magnetic tape at the “cold storage” post, but so far there is no need to talk about their practical implementation on a large scale.
Other practical materials about IT infrastructure: