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RECORDABLE MEDIA

From STORAGE Magazine Vol 8, Issue 06 - October 2008

FOR THE RECORD

WHEN IT COMES TO 'AIR TIME', RECORDED MEDIA OFTEN PLAYS SECOND FIDDLE, COMPARED TO
MORE HIGH-PROFILE TECHNOLOGIES: DISASTER RECOVERY, BUSINESS CONTINUITY, FOR EXAMPLE.
BUT IT HAS A LOT TO OFFER AND SHOULD NOT BE OVERLOOKED, SAYS EDITOR BRIAN WALL

More and more businesses are investing in backup systems that are capable of storing vast amounts of data - and broadening their horizons when it comes to pinpointing what might work best for them. Moreover, as a result of an ever-increasing amount of legal requirements concerning archiving and retention of business records, data storage and backup solutions are becoming ever more crucial.

With this agenda firmly in their minds, they are turning to recorded media as one option that might well be worth embracing. So what is on offer out there? Well, Sony, for one, has been at the forefront of storage media development for more than 40 years, and has a wealth of experience in magnetic, optical and solid-state storage technologies.

"Recording media and, more specifically, data cartridges, have been based upon coating magnetic particles on to polyester base films, something which we take for granted, but requires a high degree of skill, and complex manufacturing and chemical technology to achieve," says Ian Armstrong, who represents Sony's corporate end user business development in the UK.

"Over the years, cartridge capacities have grown on the back of developments in using thinner specialised base films and magnetic coating formulations that can attain higher bit densities. Such capacities have been achieved in parallel with improved drive mechanics and developments in head technologies - ie, narrower track widths and higher running speed capabilities (those applied to such tape solutions as 3592, LTO Ultrium, T10000, SAIT etc).

Due to the long history of magnetic tape, there is a very good understanding of its long-term archiving performance, typically >40 years, and the number of backup/ restore cycles that could potentially be achieved. "With this, recording media - unlike enterprise disc solutions - are the ideal medium for offsite storage, as long as the storage environment is sufficiently maintained in terms of cleanliness and temperature/humidity," adds Armstrong. "Obviously, reliability is imperative and the perception in the market is that all media is the same - nothing could actually be further from the truth. For example, the LTO Ultrium standard dictates that cartridges meet certain mechanical and electromagnetic criteria: it's then down to the various manufacturers to state their performance claims that really should indicate low and stable error rates, thus extending the performance of the media during the many backup and restore processes within the lifetime of the media. "The manufacturer may have access to independent test data and end user references to assist in justifying an overall value-for-money decision on which IT operation staff can be assured - and that procurement specialists can take account of. Consideration should also apply to the capability of the manufacturer to react to technical queries.

"Sony has such experience," states Armstrong," developed on the back of being a unique brand to manufacture drive and media for AIT and SAIT drive solutions, but also with the installation of LTO Ultrium drives within its scalable library solution - the Sony Petasite." Significantly, Sony has met the challenge of developing its LTO Ultrium product line with production operations in Japan and the USA linked also to technical service operations in Europe. The idea of this is not only to be able to meet market demands, but also to be on call to provide customer support within both the traditional IT field and within the broadcast market where data cartridges are becoming more prevalent within archiving and workflow solutions."

ADVANCED STORAGE Meanwhile, media manufactured by Fujifilm for the new Sun StorageTek T10000B tape drive is capable of storing up to three terabytes (TB) of data (using industry standard 3:1 compression). To put this into perspective, three terabytes of storage is considered enough to hold the digitised content from a single academic research library.

"Being able to bring continued advances to our high capacity, reliable enterpriseclass storage solutions is critically important to our customers who are managing exploding volumes of increasingly valuable data," says Jon Benson, senior vice president, storage, Sun Microsystems. "By working closely with other world-class technology providers such as the tape engineers at Fujifilm, our new one terabyte drive is bringing the next generation to market today."

The announcement highlights Fujifilm's manufacturing and thin-film coating expertise, building on the advances of Fujifilm NANOCUBIC technology. This combines nano-scale particles - a dual-coating process and advanced dispersion techniques to achieve an ultrathin magnetic layer that produces higher resolution for recording digital data, ultra-low noise and high signal-to-noise ratios, said to be ideal for magnetoresistive (MR) and giant magneto-resistive (GMR) heads. The technology introduces a new binder and a super-fine magnetic particle to provide more stable chemical and physical performance.

MAJOR SUPPLIER Fujifilm Recording Media is a major supplier of a broad spectrum of products, ranging from media cards and USB devices to optical discs and tapes. Depending on the size of a business and its application and needs, it is likely that several media formats will be used. That said, for most businesses, including central and local government, tape is still the most reliable and cost effective means of backup and archiving, it contends. "Tape specialists would argue that tape is more robust than disc, especially for back-up and archive applications. Fujifilm typically guarantees its tapes for the lifetime of the product under broad environmental conditions."

Nevertheless, all too often the pressures of work (both time and cost) result in critical business processes, such as safe back-up and archive, not being as efficient or reliable as they should be. "At Fujifilm, we believe the focus should be on minimising your media ownership costs and ensuring the integrity of your backed up data. Can you be sure that your drives are working as effectively as possible? Are the tapes and drives being utilised to the maximum? Are you certain that you can recover vital data from a tape? After all, why backup, if you can't recover!"

The costs of recreating data are extremely high and obviously, the cost of business failure cannot be contemplated. As Roger Moore, strategic business manager, Fujifilm Recording Media, points out: "It is important to put measures in place to analyse drive and tape performance. Fujifilm's new Data Cartridge Analyser is an innovative device developed to check LTO Ultrium cartridge and drive performance, in order to minimise risk of data loss. The device retrieves data from the memory chip inside the cartridge, and advanced software provides detailed data, status reports and recommendations, with free online support included."

Fujifilm has also recently launched a high-end data/drive monitoring solution - the Read Verify Appliance (RVA). This proactively monitors the integrity of tape media and drives, in order to generate
comprehensive reports on the health of a company's backup environment. The RVA features an automatic alerting and reporting tool that can be customised to fit a user's specific requirements. As well as offering the latest in tape technology, Fujifilm also offers tape drive and back up diagnostics; recovery advice and solutions; and integrated solutions, covering the backup process and recovery. And the Fujifilm 'First for Service' programme includes data transfer, degaussing, conversion, recovery and secure destruction.

BLU-RAY DISC What else is out there for end users to consider? There is the Blu-ray Disc, of course, which, according to TDK-Media Europe, allows future data backups to be performed with a throughput of 72 Mbps. In addition to the greater storage capacity (up to 10 times greater than conventional DVDs, it states), the Blu-ray Disc, together with its high data transfer rates, offers a genuine alternative to other types of backup systems.

But what exactly is Blu-ray? Well, the Bluray Disc format utilises a blue-violet laser with a shorter wavelength to enable higher storage capacities. Compared to a CD with an infrared laser and a wavelength of 720nm, or a DVD with a red laser and a wavelength of 650nm, the Blu-ray Disc format utilises a blue-violet laser with a wavelength of only 405nm (a nm is equal to a millionth of a millimetre). "Due to the blue-violet laser's shorter wavelength, it is possible to write smaller data pits and therefore to drastically increase the data density on the Blu-ray Disc, compared to CDs and DVDs," states TDK.

The structure of a Blu-ray Disc differs fundamentally from the structure of a CD or DVD. The recording layer of the Blu-ray Disc is covered by a mere 0.1mm thin cover layer, in order to achieve an optimal distance between the data track and the drive's optical system.

"After all, a CD's finishing layer is 1.2mm thick and a DVD is 0.6mm," says TDK. "The combination of this special structure and the blue-violet laser allows for a very high data density. Compared to the DVD with a data track pitch of 0.74μm, the Blu-ray Disc's data tracks are located extremely close together, with a track pitch of 0.32μm (1μm=1/1000mm). The blue-violet laser beam is only about one-fifth the size of the red laser beam of a DVD and, consequently, achieves a 500% higher data density."

Three important factors are said to be involved in TDK recordable media Blu-ray Discs: the high-precision spin coating technology; the DURABIS2 technology; and a special recording layer technology. "The high-precision Spin Coating technology enables us to furnish Blu-ray discs with an extremely smooth and precise cover layer," the company states. "DURABIS2 technology makes the Blu-ray Disc scratch-resistant, and a special recording layer technology makes higher speeds and multiple recording layers possible."

The scratch-free layer of the Blu-ray Disc is absolutely essential, because of the high data density, where even the most minute of scratches on the surface of the Blu-ray Disc can lead to recording or playback errors. In the worst case situation, all of the data on the disc could be lost. TDK DURABIS2 technology allows its recordable media Bluray Discs even to withstand the steel wool test - and they are also dirt and dust repellent. Even fingerprint smudges can't interfere with the readability of the disc, it would seem, whereas, with conventional discs, fingerprints can deposit a slight layer of grease that can redirect the laser, and cause reading and writing errors.

The current Blu-ray Discs are already available as dual layer discs, with a capacity of 50GB and twice the recording speed. Each of the two recording layers consists of two layers: the actual recording layer and a non-conducting layer. Between the two recording layers is a spacer layer. "This design allows both recording layers to be read and written separately from one another," TDK concludes. "Both recording layers send a superior signal."