StoreEver Tape Storage
1748089 Members
4933 Online
108758 Solutions
New Discussion юеВ

upgrading autoloader 1/9 w/ ultrium 215 drive

 
joe schmidt
Occasional Contributor

upgrading autoloader 1/9 w/ ultrium 215 drive

I was curious if anyone knows if you can upgrade a hp autoloader 1/9 that has an ultrium 215 drive in it to an ultrium 460 drive? I would like to upgrade to the new tape drive but they currently do not offer an autoloader that has 8-9 slots with a ultrium 460 drive. If anyone has any information on whether you can upgrade an autoloader 1/9 or when hp will introduce new autoloader's that support the ultrium 460 drive I would appreciate it. I would like to upgrade with in the next couple of months.

Thank.
6 REPLIES 6
Dave Dewar
Trusted Contributor

Re: upgrading autoloader 1/9 w/ ultrium 215 drive

Hi Joe,

I don't think we ship an autoloader with a 215 in it, which is the half height LTO1 product, 7.5MB/s native transfer rate, 100GB native capacity. The drive in your autoloader will be a 230, which is the full height LTO1 product, 15Mb/s native transfer rate, 100GB native capacity.

If you were to buy a 460 and tried a simple swap of the 230 to the 460 it would not work. From a physical and mechnical viewpoint it would, but the library controller firmware would need to be upgraded and you would need to procure an autoloader ready 460 that has the correct firmware. Both of these things are not available for the autoloader you have.

I do not know when or if HP will offer an Ultrium 460 upgrade for these autoloaders.

Hopefully, one of the HP library folks can add/correct anything I have said.

Cheers,

Dave Dewar.


Vladimir Vybiral
Valued Contributor

Re: upgrading autoloader 1/9 w/ ultrium 215 drive

I have been writing basically the same reply a few minutes before and then discarded it as I started to be unsure and did not want say something untrue... So, there is no LTO215 drive in 1/9, either DLT1 (vs80), DLT80 or LTO230. The new drive lto460 has a different interface - I believe Ultra3, and the controller fw would not recognize the drive. as of lto autoloader, there is 1/8 available with LTO230 - 2U rackmount...
When speaking, Your words should sound better than Your silence - Arabic proverb
Leif Halvarsson_2
Honored Contributor

Re: upgrading autoloader 1/9 w/ ultrium 215 drive

Hi,
I doubt if will be possible to upgrade the 1/9 autoloader as it seems to be discontinued. And the 1/8 autoloader uses the low end Ultrium 215. If you need a Ultrium 2 autoloader/small library you perhaps have to look at another vendor (for example StorageTek).
Vladimir Vybiral
Valued Contributor

Re: upgrading autoloader 1/9 w/ ultrium 215 drive

ooops, I believe the 1/8 uses 230, not 215, check out at http://www.hp.com/products1/storage/products/automatedbackup/autoloaders/18series_tape/index.html - an 230 drive is in....
When speaking, Your words should sound better than Your silence - Arabic proverb
Vincent Farrugia
Honored Contributor

Re: upgrading autoloader 1/9 w/ ultrium 215 drive

Hello,

You have to replace autoloader, definetely.

The autoloader 1/9, although a very nice product, can only handle Ultra2 SCSI. The Ultrium 460 is Ultra3, so that won't be possible to be compatible with the 1/9 (or any Galactica library for that matter). They only hold Ultrium 230 (not 215!), DLT1 and DLT8000, which all work with Ultra2.

HTH,
Vince
Tape Drives RULE!!!
Leif Halvarsson_2
Honored Contributor

Re: upgrading autoloader 1/9 w/ ultrium 215 drive

Hi,
This was a mistake of me. The drive in 1/8 is either a DLT vs80 or a Ultrium 230.