cram a full TB of storage onto a microSD card the size of a sister fingernail is a remarkable exploit , but when it come to price and reliability , magnetic tape measure is still the preferred method acting for archiving data point for decades . And even as knockout movement proceed to tumefy in sizing , magnetised tape storage still hold a solid lead as IBM and Fujifilm have found a fashion to push tape pickup capacity to 580 TB .
Thanks to the swarm , you do n’t necessarily have to spend a fortune maxing out the storage capacity of a newfangled laptop or smartphone . well out euphony and backing up pic and video to an on-line service adopt a lot of need off the memory board capabilities of your devices , but the cloud is n’t some wizard entity that can continuously bolt up data . In reality , it ’s 100 of data shopping center around the humankind with ever - growing storage demand , and not all of it end up on surd drives . For data that ’s not immediately require but also ca n’t be deleted , data marrow still swear on a memory format that was originally invented in 1928 , and first conform for digital data point in 1952 .
But do n’t bother running out to replace all of your backup drives with tape magazine just because you may get 12 TB for about $ 100 . When it come to reading and indite information , mag tape cartridge are much slow than SSDs , and even laborious drive . They ’re mostly for data you do n’t take day to 24-hour interval , but do n’t want to say goodbye to . You ’ll also have to cough up tight to $ 6,000 for a tape cartridge lector , which is why the format take a leak far more mother wit for magnanimous corporations than single users .
Image: Fujifilm
charismatic tape measure storage currently relies on the Linear Tape - Open , or LTO , data format with LTO-8 being the highest capacity usable today at 12 TB per cartridge — or 30 TB when that data is compressed which slows down the entire read / write process . LTO-9 , expected to be available soon , will double storage capacity to 24 TB per cart , but earlier this year Fujifilm reveal a breakthrough that could push tapeline storehouse capacity to astaggering 480 TBin a decennium ’s time .
https://gizmodo.com/tape-storage-could-soon-crush-hard-drives-with-400tb-ca-1844246165
information tape engineering also bank on a cloth foretell Barium Ferrite ( BaFe ) with microscopical magnetic particles that are ordinate to encode data point onto the farseeing strip of taping , but we ’re reaching the limit of how far Barium Ferrite can be improved and optimized to increase store capacity . As a result , Fujifilm has been search a new fabric call Strontium Ferrite ( SrFe ) as an alternative because its particles are lowly than those in Barium Ferrite , allowing for increased concentration and , in turn , more data capacity . mag tape cartridges packing 480 TB of information could be useable by 2030 , and unlike flash memory and hard drives , they can reliably store data for upwards of 30 year without the need for any additional ability .
Today , IBM Research announced that is has been working with researchers at Fujifilm to further get ahead the potential of Strontium Ferrite magnetised tape and have successfully managed to force 317 GB of data into a single square inch of the stuff . At that density , a single mag tape magazine could potentially hold up to 580 TB of uncompressed data point . The breakthrough comes good manners not only of the raw magnetic coating , but also the exploitation of new crushed friction tape head that permit the tape cloth itself to be very smooth , better the accuracy and reliability of what ’s being read and write .
Also act an of import part is IBM Research ’s instauration of new servosystem and controller engineering . Those are the decisive components that in reality move and align the read / write heads so that the microscopic track of datum on the slender cartoon strip of tape can be accurately read . IBM is now promising positional accuracy to within 3.2 - nanometers so that as the tape whizzes past the heads at 15 kilometers per hour , they ’ll be position “ with an accuracy that is about 1.5 times the width of a deoxyribonucleic acid molecule . ” As amazing as Fujifilm ’s development of Strontium Ferrite is , the material is mostly useless in practical applications without the sustain computer hardware that IBM Research is now modernise alongside it .
So when will 580 TB tapeline cartridges arrive ? GivenFujifilm ’s earlier breakthroughwon’t be available as a consumer production for at least another decade , this fresh enquiry is probably on an even retentive timeline than that . It also remains to be realize if the use of Strontium Ferrite will continue the advantageous pricing of tape cartridge as a long - terminus storage medium , or if it will increase manufacturing cost and pricing . A X is also a longsighted metre as far as technical organic evolution go , so who cognise how capacious toilsome drive will be once 2030 roll around . At that percentage point , tape cartridge might be look for another big discovery to continue to stay a few whole step in advance .
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