IBM Sets New Record in Magnetic Tape Data Density

[Evilsizer]

http://www.hardocp.com/news/2010/01/23/ibm_sets_new_record_in_magnetic_tape_data_density/

WOW just WOW

 

[psionic98]

thats damn impressive.. and a single magnet could now wipe out years and years of data instead of just months!

 

[JonSimonzi]

"29.5 billion bits"

I'm bad at math, what's that in real world equations/GBs?

 

[Evilsizer]

"29.5 billion bits"

I'm bad at math, what's that in real world equations/GBs?

its not talking about transfer rates,

"29.5 billion bits per square inch - about 39 times the areal data density of today's most popular industry-standard magnetic tape product."

is talking about the density of data, just like mechanical hard drives. both tape and mechanical drives work on the same principal. one is just platters and the other of course tape.

 

[JigPu]

"29.5 billion bits"

I'm bad at math, what's that in real world equations/GBs?

Following up on Evilsizer, it translates to a density of 3.7 GB in each square inch of tape. In real-world terms of density, it'd be equivalent to a single-layer DVD shrunk to less than 0.5" diameter, or a dual-layer DVD down to ~5/8" diameter.

JigPu

 

[Evilsizer]

thanks jig, i was never able to get that kind of stuff figured out.

 

[CompuTamer]

Just curious... what ARE the transfer speeds on these things? I know the access time is going to be HORRID, but i guess backups don't need good access time. i would think that decent throughput would be nice though.

 

[Evilsizer]

Just curious... what ARE the transfer speeds on these things? I know the access time is going to be HORRID, but i guess backups don't need good access time. i would think that decent throughput would be nice though.

they didnt say so there is no way of knowing the transfer rate. access time wouldnt be all that bad per say but not something to try to run games off of. well just using this as a IE, not sure if its the latest or what.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...?EdpNo=2841861&csid=ITD&body=MAIN#detailspecs

10GB/hr=.16666667GB/Min=.0027777778GB/sec or 166.67MB/min=2.78MB/s
that is on a U160 scsi connection, which has a therotical max of 160MB/s. if they are lucky due to the increase in density the transfer rate should increase as well but how much, i dunno.

 

[CompuTamer]

So, in one second, my SSD moves more data than tape drives move in a minute... i'd HATE to have to do terabytes of backups to tape drives... or have to read a huge backup FROM a tape drive.

 

[freakdiablo]

thats damn impressive.. and a single magnet could now wipe out years and years of data instead of just months!

Well atleast it becomes easier to have offsite backups. Have a closet full of tapes instead of a whole room full.

 

[ciku]

Snapsters....

 

[Moto7451]

The practical minimum level of performance for a tape drive is to be able to do a complete backup in an evening... or basically when things are not at peak levels. It's a snapshot in time approach.

 

[Shiggity]

So, in one second, my SSD moves more data than tape drives move in a minute... i'd HATE to have to do terabytes of backups to tape drives... or have to read a huge backup FROM a tape drive.

New storage models circumvent this problem by using SSD caches. Data that is required or used frequently gets put into the super fast SSD for access. (PCI-e Enterprise SSD's)

The scary thing is, even with these types of storage gains, the rate at which data is being generated is outpacing it.