Quantum A-Series User Manual

Reliability Specifications

Quantum A-Series Tape Drives User’s Guide

50

Reliability Specifications

The LTO-3 Half-Height Tape Drive is designed for maximum reliability 

and data integrity. 

 lists the reliability specifications.

Table 23   Reliability 
Specifications

1

The mean time between failures (MTBF) for the internal drive is specified 

at 250,000 hours minimum. This specification includes all power-on and 

operational time but excludes maintenance periods. Operational time is 

assumed to be 100% of the power-on time. Operational time is the time 

the tape is loaded.

Cartridge load/

unload

100,000 cartridge load/unload cycles (no 

thread)

Error recovery and 

control

• Error correction code techniques  

(C1 and C2 ECC) 

• Read-after-write (RAW)
• Error monitoring and reporting (error log)
• Retry  on

Mean time between 

failures (MTBF)

250,000 hours MTBF at 100% duty cycle: 

power applied and tape moving continuously  

(tabletop drive; 50,000 hours at full load and 

25°C)

Mean time to replace 

(MTTR)

Less than 30 minutes

Nonrecoverable error 

rate

Less than 1 in 10

17

 bits