IBM LTO Ultrium Drive-Specific Information (FC and SCSI Interfaces)

Supported Tape Formats

The following drive/media combinations are supported by XenData Archive Series software in IBM LTO Ultrium drives with FC and SCSI interfaces:

  Media            
 Drive  Ultrium 2 R/W  Ultrium 3 R/W   Ultrium 3 WORM  Ultrium 4 R/W  Ultrium 4
WORM		 Ultrium 5
R/W		 Ultrium 5
WORM
   200GB  400GB  400GB  800GB 800GB 1500GB 1500GB
LTO Ultrium-2    √  X  X  X X X X
LTO Ultrium-3    √  √   √  X X X X
LTO Ultrium-4   Read only √    √   √  √  X  X
LTO Ultrium-5   x Read only     Read only √  √  √  √ 

Notes: (1) IBM LTO Ultrium tape drives are also known as IBM 3580 drives. (2) LTO Ultrium-5 drives are not available with parallel SCSI interfaces

Minimum Supported Firmware Level

The following firmware versions have been tested with XenData Archive Series software. If you are using an earlier firmware version, please upgrade your drives before using XenData software.  All drives in a library must have the same firmware version.

Drive Device ID Firmware
 LTO Ultrium-2 SCSI  IBM ULTRIUM-TD2   38D0
 LTO Ultrium-3 FC  IBM ULTRIUM-TD3   69U2
 LTO Ultrium-3 SCSI  IBM ULTRIUM-TD3   6BA0
 LTO Ultrium-4 FC  IBM ULT3580-TD4   77BE
 LTO Ultrium-4 FC  IBM ULTRIUM-TD4   82F0
 LTO Ultrium-4 SCSI  IBM ULTRIUM-TD4   82F0
 LTO Ultrium-5 FC  IBM ULTRIUM-HH5   A4Q1

Note that the relevant tape library manufacturer may require a higher level of firmware.

Device Driver Installation

The device driver for these drives is installed using an IBM installation program. This is available from the IBM support site and the IBM Support Portal. Use version 6.2.0.9 (or later) of the installation program and select the 'Exclusive' option.

Block Size for Best Performance

IBM FC and SCSI LTO tape drives deliver best performance with a block size setting of 16 KB. This is the default setting for this tape drive when using version 5.00 or later of XenData Archive Series software.  For earlier versions, please select a block size of 16 KB each time a new Volume Set is configured using the XenData Management Console.