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LTO Tape Environmental Requirements

 
francisco a. buenviaje_1
Occasional Contributor

LTO Tape Environmental Requirements

Hi,

Just want to know if there's really a brand requirement in the air conditioning in the LTO tapes storage room? We were advised that we should use a precision airconditioning for us to be able to meet the correct room temperature and humid level.

Need your expertise.

Thanks and regards,

Francis...
6 REPLIES 6
Rob Leadbeater
Honored Contributor

Re: LTO Tape Environmental Requirements

Hi,

Check out the Quickspecs for the LTO tapes here:

http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11529_div/11529_div.pdf

On the last page are details of the required storage temperatures and humidity.

Cheers,

Rob
Richard Bickers
Trusted Contributor

Re: LTO Tape Environmental Requirements

The drives have an internal sensor which measures temperature and you can see how much margin you've got by pulling an LTT support ticket and looking at the environmental section. LTT is at http://www.hp.com/support/tapetools .

Don't worry too much about the actual temperatures as they are internal sensors but do take a look at the margin assessment which gives you an accurate figure for the actual environment your drive is in. Anything over 0% (margin) is OK. 50%+ is better.

You can also run the LTT temperature check which runs the drive for 30 minutes (to reach full operating temperature) and then checks the sensor.

Either of these should work OK. If you have lots of margin you won't need the precision.

B.t.w. <0% doesn't mean the drive will fail - just that it's outside our recommended limits. There's still more margin to be had but if you do have an issue, HP support will probably spot that and ask you to correct the environment first.

Hope that helps. Richard.
It's more interesting when it's gone wrong
francisco a. buenviaje_1
Occasional Contributor

Re: LTO Tape Environmental Requirements

Thanks a lot for the info Rob/Richard but what i am asking is the storage room temp and humid requirement where we will store the tape after the backup since all our backup tapes are permanent. Per specs, it says tape will last for 30yrs. if the correct temperature and humidity requirement has been met. We were advised that to meet the the 30yrs life span of the tape is for us to get the "Precision" brand of airconditioning. Is this true? What's with "Precision" than other can't give? What if we use the normal airconditioning and humidifier, Will it affect it's life span? (shorter than 30yrs?). We are currently using PACU airconditioning with humidifier from Emersons.

Thanks again.

Francis
Rob Leadbeater
Honored Contributor

Re: LTO Tape Environmental Requirements

Hi,

Yes you should use precision air con units in computer rooms and storage rooms.

It is a common error to try and get away with cheaper "comfort cooling" style air con units, which are designed for cooling people and offices, rather than servers etc.

Cheers,

Rob
James HP
New Member

Re: LTO Tape Environmental Requirements

As long as the conditions of the room meet the spec as previously outlined for long term archive all should be well.
datahoarder
New Member

Re: LTO Tape Environmental Requirements

Hi, the environmental specs for storing the tapes mention temperature and humidity. I am considering wrapping maybe 10 tapes or so each in vacuum bag and inserting a moisture remover inside each package. This means that if a single bag breaks, only those 10 tapes would be exposed **potentially** to higher than recommended humidity. Is it okay for the tapes to be stored at less than 1 atm of air pressure? Would a lower air pressure cause the magnetic tape to degrade in any way?

Edit: just now read that TOO LOW a humidity can also cause problems. Oh well.