LTO Drive Orientation- It can really matter!

There's been recent chatter in the industry about LTO Tape drive orientation. Is the IBM LTO drive affected when used in a horizontal orientation vs vertical? MagStor has studied this issue for many years. We even commissioned a study to definitively answer this question so users can have facts to support their buying decision for LTO Tape hardware. First, a little background:

For years some manufacturers have designed their tabletop LTO solutions with a bias towards vertical orientation. While the "Feng Shui" considerations of vertical orientation are well recognized, as you can place the drive next to a tower computer and take up less space on your work surface, the functional considerations of doing so are significant, as the performance of this solution is impacted greatly. Vertical mounted solutions are proven to be far slower and more error prone. 

MagStor engineering studied this issue when designing their patented Thunderbolt to LTO solution and purposefully chose to mount the drive horizontally for technical reasons. MagStor has always tried to educate the customer on the importance of this issue, and as the leader in Thunderbolt connected tape hardware we want to share our study with the public that documents up to a 3x performance hit when using a vertically mounted drive!

You can view the whitepaper here: https://magstor.com/blogs/news/lto-8-mounting-orientation-effects-on-tape-drive-performance

MagStor would be happy to discuss this issue with you before you buy your next tape archive device. We'd also like to discuss the other benefits of our exclusive patented Thunderbolt to LTO technology. The only patented solution in the industry! 

Reach us at  info@magstor.com