Recognizing size of DLT media

[T.A. van Leeuwen]

How can I recognize on the outside of the DLT tape what size it is? There must be a way to see that. I have different sizes in my stock, en would like to organize things.

[Leif Halvarsson_2]

Hi,
I am not sure if I understand your question correct. A DLT IV media can be written with different sizes depending on the drive (DLT4000/7000/8000). If a used tape is loaded into a drive the front panel LEDs will show the media format. But, I can see no way without loading the tape in a drive.

[Eugeny Brychkov · Accepted solution]

Look at this page http://www.hp.com/products1/storage/products/storagemedia/tape_dlt/index.html
IIIXT max capacity is 30GB (compressed 2:1)
IV max capacity is 80GB (compressed 2:1). Real capacity depends on which drive is used to write data: DLT4000 (40GB), DLT7000 (70GB), DLT8000 (80GB). In this case you can not 'see' how much is stored on the tape :o)
Eugeny

[T.A. van Leeuwen]

Thanx both for your answers. It wil help me but I still don't know how to tell what size a tape is. When I buy an cassettetape (c60) then I know it is 30 minutes on each site (I can see it without loading the tape). How can I tell what size a DLT tape is? On the outside of any DLT media is not specified what size it is. The only thing that is written on the tape is DLTIII of DLTIV. Can you tell something about that or is it impossible to tell what size a tape is by just looking on the outside of a DLT tape?

[Leif Halvarsson_2]

Hi,
The "problem" is that DLT medias can be written in different formats. This is perhaps uniq for DLT medias. For example DAT or Ultrum medias there is one cartridge for each media format (e.g DDS2,DDS3,DDS4).