LTO Media Handling Guide White Paper

HP LTO Media Handling Guide
6/22/2010 9 of 10 628389-001
Cartridge Storage Conditions
 Before you use a cartridge, let it acclimate to the normal operating
environment for 24 hours.
 Ensure that all surfaces of a cartridge are dry before inserting it.
 Do not expose the cartridge to moisture or direct sunlight.
 Do not expose recorded or blank cartridges to stray magnetic fields (for
example, terminals, motors, video equipment, X-ray equipment, or fields that
exist near high-current cables or power supplies). Such exposure can cause
the loss of recorded data or make the blank cartridge unusable.
 Maintain the following environmental conditions outlined in the table below.
Environmental Specifications
Environmental
Factor
Operating Operational
Storage
Archival Storage Shipping
Temperature
10 to 45 degrees
C (50 to 113
degrees F)
16 to 32 degrees
C (61 to 90
degrees F)
16 to 25 degrees
C (61 to 77
degrees F)
-23 to 49 degrees
C (-9 to 120
degrees F)
Relative
humidity (non-
condensing)
10 to 80% 20 to 80% 20 to 50% 5 to 80%
Wet bulb
temperature
26 degrees C (79
degrees F)
26 degrees C (79
degrees F)
26 degrees C (79
degrees F)
26 degrees C (79
degrees F)
Cartridge Life

 Durability – 1,000,000 passes on any area of tape, equates to over 20,000
end-to-end passes/260 full tape backups
 Archival Life – 30 years