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LTO Cleaning Tapes

Leon_Baradat
Level 3

I know this isn't specifically a Symantec-related question, but I'm having trouble finding the answer I'm looking for on the Internet at large, and I'm hoping someone here would know the answer.

We have four tape drives in operation: an LTO1, LTO3, LTO4, and an LTO5.  We have cleaning tapes that came with the LTO1 and LTO3.  Can they be used in the LTO4 and 5 drives?  Obviously they're the same form factor as the LTO1 and 3 cleaning cartridges, but I'd hate to either spend money on cartridges we don't really need, or find out the hard way that cleaning cartridges aren't upward-compatible.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

AmolB
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

The LTO-3 tape drive is backward read and write compatible with LTO-2 media and backward read compatible with LTO-1 media.

LTO-5  tape drives are backward read and write compatibility with LTO-4 media and backward read compatibility with LTO-3 media.

Any LTO cleaning tape may be used in any LTO drive.  There are no type specifics for LTO cleaning tapes.

Below link explains the compatibility

http://knowledgebase.tolisgroup.com/?View=entry&EntryID=178

View solution in original post

2 REPLIES 2

AmolB
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

The LTO-3 tape drive is backward read and write compatible with LTO-2 media and backward read compatible with LTO-1 media.

LTO-5  tape drives are backward read and write compatibility with LTO-4 media and backward read compatibility with LTO-3 media.

Any LTO cleaning tape may be used in any LTO drive.  There are no type specifics for LTO cleaning tapes.

Below link explains the compatibility

http://knowledgebase.tolisgroup.com/?View=entry&EntryID=178

Leon_Baradat
Level 3

Thank you!  That's just what I needed.