The IBM Ultrium magnetic tape drive provides an incredibly high level of reliability, capacity, and performance for data backup and storage in small and medium-sized environments. Due to its high speed and capacity, the Ultrium solution is an excellent alternative to the S-DLT, DLT, 1/4-inch, 4 mm, or 8 mm magnetic tape drives.
Tape Media Storage Data Loss
The technology of storing data on magnetic tape has undergone significant changes in the course of the development of computer technology and, in different periods, was characterized by other consumer properties.
The use of modern tape drives has the following distinctive features.
- Large Capacity;
- Low Cost and Broad Storage Conditions of The Information Carrier;
- Work Stability;
- Reliability;
- Low Power Consumption of an Extensive Tape Library.
There are two basic methods for recording information on magnetic tape in tape drives: linear magnetic scan and helical scan. With the linear magnetic recording method, the tape’s data are written as multiple parallel tracks. The tape has the ability to move in both directions. If the helical scan method is used, the recording head block is placed on a rotating drum, past which the mechanism extends the tape while reading and writing. It is recorded in the same direction.
Common causes of tape failure and data loss can be several reasons, such as operational error, expired tapes, and accidental overwriting data. Or they can be caused by physical damage: natural disasters, broken tapes, etc.
While our company receives general hard drive or flash recovery cases, we also get specific tape data recovery requests.
If the tape fails, the situation can become catastrophic, as tapes are often the only operational data storage. And quite often, clients no longer have original tape equipment or software to recover data from obsolete environments.
Why Storage Matters for Tape and LTO Magnetic Devices
The customer contacted us with the requirement to recover information from several LTO tapes. The files on the tapes were no longer accessible because of media degradation, which happens with most LTO tapes.
Tape devices are designed to be archived for a specified period of time. But individual media on the client’s drive collapsed and caused data loss as they were not correctly stored and were stored longer the service life of the tape drive. The LTO magnetic tape recovery process requires patience, skills, and a lot of qualified time because of the hundreds of data backup systems. This type of media storage also needs to be cleaned periodically.
The recovery must be made in a controlled environment. Thus, each LTO tape received from the customer was repaired in our ISO Certified Class 10 Cleanroom. With the help of our highly-trained engineers and modern data recovery tools, all inaccessible files were successfully recovered from LTO magnetic holders.
As the case was not an emergency, a copy of the recovered data was saved to a new data storage device and returned to the customer in 10 days.
Fill in a request form to receive our professional data restoration solutions. PITS Global Data Recovery Services’ engineers take each detail of a customer’s case into account. Thus we are able to keep our 100% customer satisfaction rate. Our company provides emergency recovery services for those who need their data back as soon as possible. The turnaround time takes from 8-48 hours.