Users Guide

Table 15. Nominal cartridge life: Load/unload cycles (continued)
Type Load/Unload Cycles
Ultrium 4 20,000 (20k)
Ultrium 3 20,000 (20k)
Ultrium 2 10,000 (10k)
Ultrium 1 5000 (5k)
Cartridge compatibility
For information on Ultrium data cartridge compatibility with Ultrium tape drives, see Table 5 on page 8.
LTO type M cartridge (M8)
The LTO Program introduced a new capability with LTO8 tape drives: the ability to write 9 TB (native)
on a brand new LTO Ultrium 7 cartridge instead of 6 TB (native) as specified by the LTO7 format. Such a
cartridge is called an LTO7 initialized LTO Type M cartridge. These LTO Type M cartridges are
identifiable by using an automation bar code label that ends with the last 2 characters “M8”.
Table 16. LTO7 and LTO8 Cartridge Types
Cartridge/Density
type Bar code label
Cartridge
Packaging/Silkscreen
labeling Native capacity
Tape Drive
compatibility
L8 xxxxxxL8 LTO Ultrium 8 12 TB LTO8
M8 xxxxxxM8 LTO Ultrium 7 9 TB LTO8
L7 xxxxxxL7 LTO Ultrium 7 6 TB LTO7, LTO8
From now on, these cartridges are referred to as L8, M8, and L7.
Only new, unused LTO Ultrium 7 cartridges can be initialized as M8 cartridges. When a cartridge is
initialized as M8, it cannot be changed back to L7. Initialized M8 cartridges can be written and read only
in an LTO8 tape drive. LTO7 tape drives cannot read initialized M8 cartridges.
M8 cartridges can be purchased as either pre-initialized (also referred to as “labeled and initialized”) M8
data cartridges or uninitialized M8 data cartridges (M8 WORM cartridges are not supported). For either
option, the bar code label is included. However, the uninitialized M8 data cartridge must first be
initialized in tape libraries that support the automatic initialization of uninitialized M8 cartridges while
under the control of ISV applications that recognize the “M8” bar code label.
A tape cartridge is initialized when it is first loaded into a compatible tape drive and data is written by
the ISV application at the beginning of tape (sometimes referred to as "labeling a tape" or "writing from
BOT"). The tape drive then establishes the density of the media.
If an uninitialized M8 cartridge is not initialized in a tape library that supports uninitialized M8
cartridges, then the cartridge might inadvertently and silently be initialized at the L7 density (that is, at a
6 TB native capacity) even if the bar code label states “M8”. This action might occur with the usage of
non-TL1000 Tape Autoloaders, stand-alone LTO7 tape drives, stand-alone LTO8 tape drives, earlier LTO8
tape drive firmware, earlier TL1000 Tape Autoloader firmware, or earlier ISV software that does not
recognize that M8 cartridges must be mounted only in LTO8 tape drives. M8 cartridges that are
inadvertently initialized at the L7 density can continue to be read and written in LTO7 and LTO8 tape
drives. However, they remain limited to the 6 TB native capacity.
Media 99