Hewlett Packard Enterprises LTO-7 Ultrium Type M RW Custom-Labeled Data Cartridge (20-Pack)

Please note that LTO-7 Type M requires unused LTO-7 media that has been initialized by an LTO-8 drive with an automation environment that supports Type M, to allow data to be written at a higher track density. Also, LTO-7 cartridges used for LTO-7 Type M must have an M8 bar cade label applied.

LTO-8 tape drives have a feature which allows 9TB to be stored on an LTO-7 cartridge instead of 6TB. Such a cartridges are referred to as LTO-7 cartridges initialized as Type M media. When used in automation, LTO-7 cartridges initialized as Type M media use barcode labels whose last two characters are M8. Only new, unused LTO-7 cartridges may be initialized as LTO-7 Type M and once initialized, cannot be changed back to a normal 6TB LTO-7 cartridge. In addition, an initialized LTO-7 Type M cartridge can only be written and read in an LTO-8 drive. LTO-7 drives are not capable of reading LTO-7 cartridges initialized as Type M media. LTO-7 Type M cartridges must be initialized in a library that supports the format and this is determined by the number on the cartridge barcode label.

As previously stated, if the barcode ends in M8 it will be initialized as LTO-7 Type M media, otherwise it will be initialized as a normal LTO-7. To avoid the confusion of labels not matching the cartridge format, LTO-7 Type M cartridges can only be initialized in libraries or autoloaders. Although standalone LTO-8 drives cannot initialize LTO-7 Type M cartridges, they are fully compatible and able to read and write any LTO-7 Type M cartridge which has been previously initialized in a library. LTO-7 Type M media is only available as read/write cartridges, not as WORM.