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Tape keeps kicking, 'breakthrough' 40TB native spec announced — LTO-10 tapes claim up to 100TB compressed data capacity, hold 2.2X more data than previous spec
There’s a revamped, more capacious magnetic tape format in town. The Linear Tape-Open (LTO) Ultrium Format companies, composed of industry leaders HPE, IBM Corporation, and Quantum Corporation, announced the LTO-10 40TB cartridge standard a few hours ago. In an email to Tom’s Hardware, the organization heralded the new tape cart’s 40TB native capacity, which they say can deliver up to 100TB, compressed, assuming a 2.5:1 compression ratio.
(Image credit: The Linear Tape-Open (LTO) Ultrium Format companies)
According to the LTO, its “breakthrough” new format was driven by “data preservation demands as data collection skyrockets in today’s AI era.” Even tape makers are now talking about artificial intelligence. Indeed, a 2.2X increase in native tape storage capacity over LTO-9, and a 33% increase vs LTO-10 30TB native carts, is a significant increase. Moreover, the LTO Program insists that its tapes remain as reliable, affordable, and efficient as ever.
Two major innovations
Two major innovations were behind the native capacity increases available with LTO-10. Firstly, a new head design is claimed to facilitate reliable reads/writes at the significantly increased density. Secondly, the new advanced base film technology, dubbed Aramid, is said to “permit the manufacture of significantly thinner and smoother media.”
Specifically, Aramid is behind the 10TB native capacity uplift seen between LTO-10 30TB and 40TB cartridges. The thinner, more stable Aramid basically allows longer lengths of tape to be used in the same cartridge form factor.
As this is merely a change to the magnetic media in the carts, the LTO Program says customers currently using LTO-10 30TB media will be able to pick and choose between the two media types, according to their cost and capacity requirements. However, the larger capacity benefits are clear, delivering “fewer cartridges, fewer frames, lower energy and a stronger security posture,” notes an analyst quoted in the official press release.
(Image credit: The Linear Tape-Open (LTO) Ultrium Format companies)
Tape lives on, and has an ambitious 913TB cart capacity roadmap
We commented on this in 2024, and it is probably worth repeating: Tape shipments are on the up, even though it just seems so archaic, and there are some notable (more glamorous) challengers intending to eat its lunch.
In its latest press release, announcing LTO-10 40TB, the LTO Program reiterated its outlook, mentioning tapes with a maximum capacity of 913TB (LTO-14). It is expected to be another seven years before LTO-14 is a thing. But, in the meantime, LTO-10 40TB cartridges are scheduled to ship in Q1 2026.
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Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
If it wasn't for the tape drives being basically the same price as my entire NAS, I would love one of these for backing up my NAS weekly to offsite physical media.
I still don't understand this "keeps kicking" narrative. It's still pretty much the only option for long-term offline storage for large datasets. What else is out there for folks that have a 20+ year retention requirement on a 1PB+ dataset? That's a bit tongue and cheek as there are obviously options, just not any that approach the price per TB of tape.
I'm disappointed to see speeds haven't changed a bit. At 34TB per day transfer rate (per drive) it can be a challenge to get tape sets made in a timely manner.
