It's preferable to back up a system using just one data cartridge—it makes for a more streamlined system backup process. But backup devices always seem to be one step behind hard drives where capacity is concerned—until now. Sony's new AIT-5 drives have leapfrogged hard drives. Using compression, the new AIT-5 drives offer more than a terabyte of capacity per cartridge.
AIT-5 technology provides 400 Gbytes of native capacity per cartridge and can hold up to 1.04 Tbytes using 2.6:1 compression. The 3.5-inch, half-height AIT-5 drive is available as an internal (AIT-i1040LE, priced at $3,100) unit or external (AIT-e1040LE, priced at $3,320) unit. Both models feature a 68-pin Ultra160 Wide SCSI LVD/SE connector. System builders must either install an appropriate SCSI controller card or use a motherboard that has one built-in.
AIT-5 drives achieve such high capacity using helical-scan recording, MR head technology and Advanced Metal Evaporated III (AME III) tape. A Remote-Memory-In-Cassette (R-MIC) chip inside each cartridge provides non-volatile storage for the tape's system log, search map and user-defined data to enable quick media loads and fast searches so that the drive can jump quickly and directly to any file on the tape. The drive provides a sustained native transfer rate of up to 24 MBps.
The AIT-5 drives are hearty. The drive cooling system is isolated from the tape mechanism, which limits the admittance of airborne contaminants, and it features an automatic head-cleaning system. The heads are rated for 50,000 tape contact hours, and the cartridges are rated for 30,000 end-to-end passes. The drive's mean time between failures (MTBF) is 400,000 hours at 100 percent duty cycle, and it's covered by a three-year advance exchange warranty.
| Product: AITE1040S | |
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• PRICE: $3,100/$3,320 • WARRANTY: 3 Years • DISTRIBUTORS/INTEGRATORS: D&H, Ingram Micro, Synnex, Tech Data |
| COMPANY: Sony Electronics |
| San Jose, Calif. (800) 686-SONY www.storagebysony.com | |
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