Table 60. Ultrium data cartridge compatibility with Ultrium tape drives (continued)
IBM Ultrium Data Cartridges
Ultrium
5
Read/
Write
Read/
Write
Read
Only
Ultrium
4
Read/
Write
Read/
Write
Read
Only
Ultrium
3
Read/
Write
Read/
Write
Read
Only
Ultrium
2
Read/
Write
Read/
Write
Ultrium
1
Read/
Write
LTO type M cartridge (M8)
The LTO program introduced a new capability with LTO8 tape drives: the ability to write 9 TB (native) on a
brand new LTO Ultrium 7 cartridge instead of 6 TB (native) as specied by the LTO7 format.
Such a cartridge is called an LTO7 initialized LTO Type M cartridge. These LTO Type M cartridges are
identiable by using an automation bar code label that ends with the last 2 characters “M8”.
Table 61. LTO7 and later Cartridge Types
Cartridge/Density
type
Bar code label Cartridge
Packaging/
Silkscreen
labeling
Native capacity Tape Drive
compatibility
L9 xxxxxxL9 LTO Ultrium 9 18 TB LTO9
L8 xxxxxxL8 LTO Ultrium 8 12 TB LTO8
M8 xxxxxxM8 LTO Ultrium 7 9 TB LTO8
L7 xxxxxxL7 LTO Ultrium 7 6 TB LTO7, LTO8
From now on, these cartridges are referred to as L9. L8, M8, and L7.
Only new, unused LTO Ultrium 7 cartridges can be initialized as M8 cartridges. When a cartridge is
initialized as M8, it cannot be changed back to L7. Initialized M8 cartridges can be written and read only in
an LTO8 tape drive. LTO7 tape drives cannot read initialized M8 cartridges.
M8 cartridges can be purchased as either pre-initialized (also referred to as “labeled and initialized”) M8
data cartridges or uninitialized M8 data cartridges (M8 WORM cartridges are not supported). For either
option, the bar code label is included. However, the uninitialized M8 data cartridge must rst be initialized
in tape libraries that support the automatic initialization of uninitialized M8 cartridges while under the
control of ISV applications that recognize the “M8” bar code label.
A tape cartridge is initialized when it is rst loaded into a compatible tape drive and data is written by
the ISV application at the beginning of tape (sometimes referred to as "labeling a tape" or "writing from
BOT"). The tape drive then establishes the density of the media.
If an uninitialized M8 cartridge is not initialized in a tape library that supports uninitialized M8 cartridges,
then the cartridge might inadvertently and silently be initialized at the L7 density (that is, at a 6 TB native
capacity) even if the bar code label states “M8”. This action might occur with the usage of a non LTO8 tape
drive, a stand-alone LTO7 tape drive, a stand-alone LTO8 tape drive, earlier LTO8 tape drive rmware, or
earlier ISV software that does not recognize that M8 cartridges must be mounted only in LTO8 tape drives.
IBM Condential
Appendix F. LTO media203
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