Difference between HP cartridge and HPE cartridge, both C7975A

[Peter-1200]

Hello,

Has there been any discussion about a difference between HP-branded LTO tape cartridges, and HPE-branded LTO tape cartridges?  Perhaps there is an Ultrium tape drive firmware update to handle this?

From the four tests below, it's pretty clear that LTO-5 C7975A cartridges *are* different, when they come with the HPE label.

We have an EH957A Ultrium 3000 LTO-5 drive, purchased new, but now out of warranty.

Here's what we see:

Test #1:  Backup to HP-branded C7975A cartridge.  Backup is of 1.2TB (1065.1GiB) of files, average file size 200,000,000 bytes, no compression.  Backup performed with Yosemite Server Backup software.  Write completes in 138.5 minutes.  Read-and-compare completes in 138.5 minutes.

Test #2:  Same as test #1 except to HPE-branded C7975A cartridge.  Write was cancelled after only 48% of the data was written in 168 minutes.  It was obvious the drive was not streaming, possibly due to retries.

Test #3:  HPE Library & Tape Tools (LTT) version 4.25, Drive Assessment Test to HP-branded C7975A cartridge.  Result was "test has PASSED and the drive is GOOD."  All margins were reported as "great".

Test #4:  Same as test #3 except to HPE-branded C7975A cartridge.  Result was "drive is no longer recommended for use."  Margins were reported as only "good" or "fair" -- and in two cases, "warning" margin with a STOP icon.

Any comments or suggestions?

Thanks! --Peter

[Peter-1200]

Hello,

Here are the results of two more tests, both with a new LTO-6 drive.  This drive can write and read both HP-branded and HPE-branded LTO-5 tapes, which is what we need.

It would still be nice to know what's up with our HP LTO-5 tape drive!  Is there any way to convince it to work with HPE-branded tapes?

Details:

The new drive is Newegg item #01N-01GV-00001, a Quantum-branded OEM version of the IBM TS2260 LTO-6 desktop tape drive.  Nicely packed and delivered by Fedex.

Test #5: Backup to HP-branded C7975A cartridge with LTO-6 drive. Backup is of 1.4TB (1353.0GiB) of files, average file size 200,000,000 bytes, no compression. Backup performed with Yosemite Server Backup software. Write completes in 177.0 minutes. Read-and-compare completes in 175.7 minutes.

Test #6: Same as test #1 except to a new HPE-branded C7975A cartridge. Write completes in 183.5 minutes. Read-and-compare completes in 189.0 minutes.

Thanks! --Peter

[Tapevine]

Hi Peter-1200

Sorry to hear that you have been having problems with your HPE LTO tape media.  

I'm the Worldwide Product Marketing Manager for Hewlett Packard Enterprise LTO Ultrium Storage Supplies (@tapevine on Twitter).  I can confirm that there has been no change to HPE specifications or performance requirements - e.g. when the branding changed from HP to HPE.  But it's not easy for comment further on what could be causing your issue without more information. The best thing to do would be to send an email directly to ltotape-support@hpe.com for further assistance from our media engineering team.  Once we have your contact details, we'll do our best to resolve the issue for you.

Best regards

Andrew Dodd

[Peter-1200]

Thank you for the reply, Andrew!  I sent mail, as you suggested.  Thanks. --Peter

[Peter-1200 · Accepted solution]

Hello,

I'm happy to mark this issue closed, after getting help from Andrew Dodd and the HPE Support team.

It's pretty clear (to me) that new firmware helped substantially.  Our EH957A drive firmware went from Z5AD to Z6ED.  I understand that successfully cleaning the drive was also important.

We greatly appreciate the opportunity to install new firmware on a drive that is out of warranty.  That's great support.

Thank you! --Peter