Both the LTO and the DLT are the tape specifications that are used in the enhancement of the technologies. The LTO stands for the Linear Tape Open. And the DLT stands for the Digital Linear Tape. The magnetic tape is available in many types of data storage capacities and is extensively used for large data backup. The LTO or the Linear Tape Open is the family of the open magnetic tape standards. This was developed by the major manufacturers of the storage devices that are the IBM, Seagate and the HP. After the development the license for this was provided for the third party vendors.

The new formats in the LTO were developed in the year of 1998. The formats were named as the Ultrium and Accelis. There are some components that are same like the read or write head, servo technology or the track layout etc. Also there is the memory that is available in the LTO cartridges. This memory is for the history of the events that has taken place and for the purpose of providing the storage of the historical data usage.

There is only one hub in the Ultrium. And in the tapes that are like the Magstar the native capacities range form 100GB to about 200GB. There is a dual hub available in the Accelis. The cartridge is in the form of a cassette. This cartridge has a midpoint load. This mid point load is about the size in memory about a native 25GB capacity. Currently, or even from the release there is no license plan that is available for the format of the Accelis.

Now let us consider the details of how the DLT evolved. The DLT as the abbreviation is for the Digital Linear Tape. This is a technology for the magnetic tape that can store the information in the digital format. Most of the tape technologies utilize the analog format for the storage of the data. The DLT technology was actually introduced by the Digital Equipment Corporation. This technology of the DLT was developed to provide the purpose for the DEC’s VAX line. Later this technology of the DLT was purchased by the Quantum. Hence the license provider for the DLT now is the Quantum.

There is only a half inch, single hub in the DLT. This cartridge is similar to that of the IBM's 3480/3490/3590 line. It is used to write at least the tracks of 128 or 208 that are linear in nature. This is also o model dependent. The native storage capacity is in the range of 40 giga bytes to 80 giga bytes. The main increase in the DLT usage was in the mid of 90’s when it was mostly used for the LAN. The advancements in the technology have led to the Super DLT also known as the SDLT.

The features of the DLT are enhanced to fill the gap in the technology and business markets. In the SDLT the native storage capacity is in between the 110 giga bytes to the 160 giga bytes. The SDLT with the storage capacity of 110 giga bytes is known as the SDLT 220 and that with the 160 giga bytes is known as the SDLT 320. There is a model that is available with the native storage capacity of about 300 giga bytes which is known as the SDLT 600.

The designations that are provided for the SDLT technology is in the ratings that is much compressed. It is actually double the native capacity. Also another important aspect of the discussion is the data transfer speed. In the DLT it was about 3 megabytes per second to 8 mega bytes per second. But the same in the SDLT is from 11 to 36 megabytes per second.

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