LTO Tape Crushes Other Tape Formats on the Market

LTO Tape Crushes Other Tape Formats on the Market

While there are many tape formats available today (each has their own benefits), it is clearer than ever that LTO is the very best and sought after on the market. In fact, the Santa Clara Consulting group recently revealed that LTO makes up a whopping 87.2 percent of the tape cartridge market (excluding mainframe-oriented formats).

Rewind back to 2010 and LTO garnered $182 million in sales out of $209 million for the overall tape cartridge market.

Fast-forward to 2013 and the LTO-5 and LTO-6 are the king and queen of tape, with their massive data storage specs and LTFS functionality. Even the LTO-4 is still highly sought after.

On the other hand DDS/DAT, DLT, AIT, QIC, and 8mm continue to decline in popularity. This doesn’t mean they are worthless, they’re just not as exciting as the newest LTO formats.

Thinking of trading in some of your old tape for a newer format?

The beauty of tape in its many forms is that the data can be completely wiped, making tapes reusable. Thus, if you’re thinking of jumping to the LTO-5 or LTO-6, you have the power to cash in your old tapes.

The Big Data Supply Buyback Program is streamlined to help organization offload new and/or old tape and gain top dollar as result. This makes data migration and data storage upgrades much more exciting and lucrative.

If you want to take advantage of all that LTO tape has to offer, we invite you to contact our team. There is a distinct reason that LTO owns the bulk of the market share. Not only does it now hold massive amounts of data, its new and improved filing system helps organizations save both time and money.
Reasons to Recycle Your New & Used Tape

1. You are doing the environment a true favor.
2. Your data will be fully eradicated and tapes wiped clean.
3. They can be reused again.
4. You can receive cash for new and used tape.
5. It’s easy and stress free.

Who ever said tape is dead? As far as we’re concerned, its popularity is affirmation that LTO is just getting started!

We buy new and used data tape media. LTO-4 Ultrium, all brands.

We buy new and used data tape media. LTO-4 Ultrium, all brands.

Looking to unload new and/or used LTO-4 tape? Big Data Supply, Inc. (that’s us) pays the highest dollar possible for new and used tape.

Our streamlined buyback program assures each and every one of our customers that they are gaining the very best deal without compromising their data. We can either provide cash or credit that can be applied toward newer tape formats and other data storage products.

We also buy other LTO formats, 3592, 8mm AIT / AME / VXA / 3590 / 9840 / 9940 /SLR / MLR / QIC and many other formats.

To assure that all data on used tapes is completely destroyed, we utilize our proprietary method for data destruction – assuring that you will comply with industry regulations as set forth by Sarbanes-Oxley, SOX, HIPAA, the SEC, and more.

There are numerous reasons as to why selling your new and used tape is the right thing to do, including:

• You can collect some quick cash.
• It’s the environmentally conscious thing to do.
• It’s quick and easy.
• You’ll comply with industry regulations for data destruction.

For more information on selling your new and used LTO-4 tape and/or other formats, contact our buyback team at 800-905-7329 or support@bigdatasupply.com

If you are considering the migration of data, you may have already realized the process is much more complex than you could have ever imagined. Don’t get down on yourself in case you get overwhelmed, as the effective handling of important data (and the many forms it comes in) is no laughing matter.

To help you take the right data migration steps, we hope the following tips will help:

• Find the right experts and partners. It is an excellent idea to develop a team that fully understands the data migration process and can walk you through the process. This includes getting the right people within your organization involved (i.e. technology specialists, data maintainers/managers, marketing teams, organizational leaders, and more) and seeking out a data migration expert for help and advice.

The earlier you take this step, the less likely you will make costly and time-consuming mistakes.

At Big Data Supply, we offer comprehensive data migration services for organizations of all sizes. We invite you to call our offices to discuss your needs.

• Get to know your data. It is very likely that you have a variety of data types/forms. The more you understand your data and its exact purpose, the more effectively you can develop a winning plan to meet your organization’s true needs. This will also save valuable time during the data migration process.

• Define your budget. Make sure you know exactly how much you can spend and what your return on investment will be as result of data migration. Without a clear understanding of your budget, you will be amazed at how much money you’ll burn through in a short amount of time.

When working with a data migration expert, it is best to be honest about your budget. This will allow for the suggestion of the very best methods and technologies to serve your interests.

• Develop a clear and concise plan. It is essential that you move into a data migration effort with a defined roadmap. This will reduce the work developers need to accomplish, while saving you both time and money.

• Think about the future. Make sure you build out a data management system that will last for years to come and can be expanded to meet your future needs. It’s no secret that technology is continually evolving – so create a flexible system that takes many different scenarios into mind. Refer to your experts for best practices, while sharing with them how you expect the business to change and grow.

• Get rid of unnecessary data. Once you become familiar with the multitude of data that has been collected over the years, you will be amazed at how much isn’t ever used or needed on a daily basis. Get rid of as much data as possible and/or figure out an inexpensive way to store legacy data (LTO tape may be an excellent option).

The secret to your success is careful planning and assuring you have the very best resources to migrate your data. Dare to find the very best ways possible to make your data work for you. Please feel free to connect with the Big Data Supply team for expert advice!

Big Data Supply, Inc. offers secure data destruction on tape media and hard drives like used HP hard drives and used Toshiba hard drives.

Is the organization you are affiliated with seeking to destroy data that is no longer needed? Or have you recently upgraded to a newer data storage infrastructure and have data on older tape media that needs to be discarded?

In today’s world, it is essential that you understand the importance of completely expunging valuable data and/or complying with industry regulations.

For instance, in the world of healthcare, HIPAA states that that all sensitive data must be cleared or purged by “degaussing or exposing the media to a strong magnetic field in order to disrupt the recorded magnetic domains.” Media can also be destroyed through “pulverization, melting, incineration, or shredding.”

At Big Data Supply, we believe that tape should be degaussed/erased or overwritten, rather than tapes being pulverized or incinerated. The reason for such logic is quite simple:

1. Incinerating tape is toxic to the environment.
2. Pulverizing tape leads to unneeded waste.
3. Perfectly good tape is wasted -- when it could be reused again.

On the other hand, the degaussing and resurfacing of tape makes it possible to comply with FACTA, HIPAA, Gram-Leach-Bliley, SEC, DOD, SOX, Sarbanes-Oxley, and other regulatory bodies, while responsibly keeping perfectly good tape out of landfills…and toxins out of the air (when considering incineration).

The sad fact is that only 3 percent of tape is recycled. This is why we have developed a streamlined process for organizations to either recycle and reuse their tape media or sell their used tape to recoup their initial data center investment.

As you consider what to do with old tape, it is vital that you never dispose of data-filled cartridges into a dumpster. Doing so usually results in the violation of industry regulations. Using HIPAA as an example once again, the disposal of used tape media can only be done if each and every tape has been rendered unreadable.

And once again, why throw away perfectly good tape when you can have it recycled? And when you can make some cash in the process through our buy-back program?

To learn more, contact the Big Data Supply team at 800-905-7329 or support@bigdatasupply.com. We will walk you through the process, while providing you a full education on data eradication and tape recycling.

Curious of all this LTO LTFS talk and want to see how LTO-5 and LTFS are being utilized by a real-world organization?
The following video is a case study presented by IBM. Learn how one of their customers in Athens, Greece has simplified their archival process and cut costs significantly:

We buyback LTO cartridges in new and used condition, if you would like a free value audit on what you have please send us a list of what you have.

LTFSgameChange

LTFS - Linear Tape File System in LTO Ultrium generations 5 and above.

According to a recent analysis by the Compliance, Governance, and Oversight Counsel, 69 percent of the data saved by organizations have little or no value whatsoever. The wild part of the equation is that organizations pay a substantial amount of money to store this data and make it readily available at any moment in time.

If the majority of data is stored digitally, the costs can grow to astronomical levels. Thus, organizations are faced with either continuing to pay for data that is never going to be used or they are tasked with the challenge of sorting through the data in order to eliminate and/or move it to a more cost-effective storage system.

This objective can be extremely time-consuming and difficult, given the huge amounts of data that most organizations generate on a regular basis.

David Hill, Tech guru and writer for NetworkComputing.com, suggests that tape offers a cost-effective alternative to disk drives. What’s more, LTO tape’s recent adoption of the LTFS (Linear Tape File System) makes writing to tape as easy as writing to disk.

Thanks to IBM, the LTO Consortium – which is comprised of HP, Quantum, IBM, and other key brands – LTFS became a reality. This makes tape much more functional and realistic for organizations seeking to access important data 24 x 7.

The next step for IBM in the world of LTO tape is the integration of the General Parallel File System (GPFS) with LTFS. The company announced at EDGE 2013 in Las Vegas that now customers can effectively move data from hard disks directly to tape. This makes the transfer of massive amounts of data more plausible.

Hill suggests that organizations consider storing their “no-value” data on LTO until their leaders can decide on what data to keep and what data to discard. This allows for HDDs to be freed up for the most relevant data.

To take advantage of LTFS, you must invest in either LTO-5 or LTO-6. Earlier LTO formats didn’t include LTFS. Regardless of what brand of LT0-5 or LTO-6 you choose, you can be sure you are gaining technology that will last for decades.

Big Data Supply, Inc. buys used data center equipment.

Big Data Supply, Inc. buys used data center equipment.

If you are considering the idea of recycling your electronics and/or purchasing recycled goods, we hope the following will inspire you to make the best decision for planet earth:

1. 80 to 85 percent of electronics are discarded into landfills or incinerated (releasing toxins into the air).
2. Between 20 and 50 million metric tons of e-waste is disposed of worldwide each year.
3. E-waste represents 70 percent of the toxic waste in the U.S. Sadly enough; lead found within electronics can contribute to central and peripheral nervous system damage.
4. Did you know that cell phones and other electronics devices often contain high amounts of precious metals such as silver and gold? Americans alone dump an estimated 60 million in gold/silver each year.
5. Most LTO tape can be recycled, earning a substantial amount of cash.
6. Recycling one million laptops has the power to save energy equivalent to more than 3,600 homes in the U.S. a year.
7. The majority of what is labeled “e-waste” can be reused. Thus, it isn’t waste at all.
8. Did you know it takes 539 pounds of fossil fuel to manufacture a single computer and monitor?
9. The majority of equipment used within a data center can be recycled including tape, disk array, tape drives, and peripherals.

At Big Data Supply we take e-waste very seriously. This is why we regularly educate the general public as to the importance of correctly disposing of and/or recycling electronics.

Our recycling team recommends the following with regard to your electronics:

1. Consider each and every item you own recyclable until you are told by a professional it isn’t. And even then, you may want to get a second or third opinion.
2. Realize that your old electronics may be work money. For example, we pay competitive rates for working data storage tape, tape disk drives, peripherals, and more.
3. Tell your friends about the importance of recycling. If you see a friend throwing away electronics, either educate them on e-waste or offer to find a recycler for them.

We invite you to contact our offices if you have any questions about recycling. And once again, please pass on the above e-waste statistics.

It’s about time we human beings take the health of the planet seriously! Join us in our effort to make people and organizations more aware.

Numerous organizations and individuals turn to Big Data Supply to let go of their used tape, as they know they can trust our ability to expunge their legacy data and ready their tapes for reuse. Beyond tape, we offer top dollar for disk array, no matter the model or brand – both new and used.

Selling your used disk array can benefit you and the environment in many ways, including:

1. You can recoup a portion of the money you initially invested in your data storage system.

2. Your recouped cash can be reinvested to upgrade your current data storage environment.

3. You have the power to save space if you are planning to keep your disk array stored.

4. You will save your equipment from landfills and/or incineration.

5. Other organizations can benefit from buying your used disk array.

As mentioned prior, we are willing to take all brands and models. Common brands purchased include (but aren’t limited to) Dell, Hitachi, Fujitsu, IBM, Infotrend, SGI, HP, NetApp, Xyratex, and Sun.

If you are local to our offices, our team can arrange a pick up for your disk array, tape, and any other electronic devices you would like to recycle.

Once we have obtained your devices, we will offer a quote and arrange for payment. We can also offer credit toward the purchase of newer, more robust equipment.

Other items Big Data Supply will buy back and recycle:

• Tape
• Tape drives
• Tape libraries
• Hardware
• Peripherals
• Telecom equipment

For more information on selling disk array or any of the above items, we invite you to contact our team today.

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