#Lto 6 tape serial number stickers manual
#Lto 6 tape serial number stickers archive
#Lto 6 tape serial number stickers software

In 2017 we received funding to invest in a second half height tape drive from Quantum, commissioning a third party vendor to purchase it. Quantum LTO6 half height desktop drive model C

I began writing the files to LTO6 tape using this single drive, writing two identical A & B tapes one after another, so that they could be safely stored in two different locations. In the beginning these AVIs were rewrapped to uncompressed MOV using FFMPEG, but we now convert to FFV1 and Matroska to save transfer times and storage costs ( you really need FFV1 in your life).

#Lto 6 tape serial number stickers archive

With the LTO deck operating, our archive developed a вЂsubmaster relocationвЂ™ workflow that would prioritise moving roughly 30TB of 2010-2014 era digitised AVI assets from ageing spinning disk infrastructure on to LTO tape.

#Lto 6 tape serial number stickers manual

Following recommendations in the LTO manual we obtained a grounding wrist band to be worn when handling the drives/tapes in case of electrical charges being conducted through the body of the operator and shorting the equipment.

#Lto 6 tape serial number stickers software

Another PCI card with SAS connector* was ordered for the MacPro 5,1, and installed along with LTFS and the Quantum LTFS Manager software that provides a GUI for mounting and formatting LTO tapes. This was transferred over a 1Gb server connection to the MacPro for grading and export to clients. I began moving 200-300GB DPX folders onto the Ubuntu using command line instructions - many of which follow below in this blog - before using FFMPEG to create a ProRes 4444 file from the image sequence ( find out more about FFMPEG). Quantum LTO6 half height desktop drive model B LTO7 was on the horizon but waiting wasnвЂ™t an option, so a desktop Quantum LTO6 half height drive, Model B (below) was purchased. LTO6, which has an uncompressed tape capacity of around 2.4TB, was the affordable format at the time. The Apple MacPro 5,1 in our technical suite hadnвЂ™t the processing power to handle the DPX files, so we were gifted an ageing Ubuntu server complete with 9TB storage, FFMPEG, LTFS and a PCI SAS card to connect to an LTO drive. I first was introduced to LTO/LTFS in 2015 as a way to handle incoming LTO6 tapes containing massive DPX scan folders from external agencies. LTFS can be used mounted on a desktop allowing items to be dragged/dropped to a tape, or controlled via command line instructions. It also provides indexes of the tape contents making the metadata searchable and more quickly recovered. LTFS works by allowing data to be copied to the LTO tape and can be read anywhere with open source LTFS software. Thankfully the desktop drive range and the Linear Tape File System (LTFS, launched in 2010) makes the technology available to all, but in place of the robots are fleshy operatives.

For small archives the pricing of library systems makes them fairly unattainable. LTO was not designed to be used manually but as part of a large library system where robots access the tapes and software algorithms decide the location of your data, across multiple tapes. Trash it, crash it, bash, reboot itвЂ¦ Errors and problems.Load it, mount it, quick, format itвЂ¦ Basic operations and command line.Write it, cut it, paste it, save itвЂ¦ Admin requirements for non-library use.Buy it, use it, break it, fix itвЂ¦ Introduction.What follows will help illustrate my learning curve over the last few years, and I welcome feedback from more knowledgeable users. IвЂ™ve no prior LTO experience so have had to learn on the fly. I hope itвЂ™s helpful to some go-it-alone LTOers.Дisclaimer: IвЂ™m formerly a videographer and now colourist/asset manager at the Media Archive for Central England. IвЂ™ve finally committed to making my first blog entry about my LTO (Linear Tape-Open) journey, and itвЂ™s coincided with revisiting my Daft Punk albums so forgive the Technologic inspired chapter titles! With grateful thanks to all those whoвЂ™ve encouraged this blog.