LTO-7 at a glance
- 6TB native, 15TB compressed (2.5:1)
- 300MB/s native, up to 750MB/s compressed
- Works in LTO-7 and LTO-8 drives (not LTO-9)
- Uncorrected bit error rate of 1 in 1019, 100× better than LTO-6
LTO-7 tape
LTO-7 was a big step when it launched in 2015: it more than doubled LTO-6 capacity to 6TB native and nearly doubled the speed to 300MB/s. It was also the first generation built entirely on Barium Ferrite media, with error correction improved from 1 in 1017 bits to 1 in 1019.
Many organisations still run LTO-7 drives and autoloaders, and LTO-7 cartridges remain widely available for backup rotation and archive top-ups.
LTO-7 specifications
Compatibility
- An LTO-7 drive reads and writes LTO-7 and LTO-6, and reads LTO-5.
- An LTO-8 drive reads and writes LTO-7. It can also format a new LTO-7 cartridge as 9TB “Type M” media.
- An LTO-9 drive cannot read or write LTO-7 cartridges.
If you are planning an LTO-9 upgrade and still have LTO-7 archives, keep an LTO-7 or LTO-8 drive for restores or migrate the data first. See our compatibility guide.
LTFS with LTO-7
LTO-7 supports LTFS, letting you mount a cartridge and drag and drop files without backup software.
Buying LTO-7 tapes
We supply LTO-7 cartridges from Fujifilm, HPE, IBM, Quantum, Dell Technologies and Sony, in packs of 5 to 5,000, plus LTO-7 WORM and cleaning media. On orders of 20 or more we can pre-print barcode labels in the right sequence for your library.
| Brand | LTO-7 part number |
|---|---|
| Fujifilm | 16456574 |
| HPE | C7977A |
| IBM | 38L7302 |
| Quantum | MR-L7MQN-01 |
| Dell | 07J4HF |
| Sony | LTX6000G |
Tell us the brand and quantity, and whether you need barcode labels.