UK Tape Data Recovery: Getting your data back from any tape

Tape Formats

Tape data recovery is a broad subject requiring the ability to deal with a wide range of tape formats, and sub-formats. Recovery from LTO3 may require an approach that differs greatly from that for LTO1 or 2, and the technical requirements for DLT or DAT can be further different.

Altirium's tape recovery engineers have successfully dealt with the whole range of tape formats over many years and have encountered most of the problems that could occur.

Some of the more frequently encountered tape formats are covered below.

Data Recovery from LTO tapes

Introduced in 2000, LTO Ultrium has been the fastest growing format for the backup of high end systems, and has even been gaining market share towards the lower end of the market, and with it have come new data recovery challenges. The recording format is probably the most complex of all tapes, this is not a negative comment as it is the complexity that allows the density of recording and the reliability that the format gives.

Data Recovery from DLT tapes

DLT has been at the forefront of tape backup for all types of system for well over a decade. Altirium have developed DLT data recovery techniques for recovery from DLT and SDLT (DLT-V and DLT-S) data cartridges.

The types of problem where DLT recovery has been needed include physical problems (stretching, creasing, tearing, heat damage), recording issues (failing write heads and corruption to the data at the start of the tape), and the recovery of data following overwriting or media flaws.

Data Recovery from AIT tapes

AIT is a helical scan medium, as are DAT, VXA and Exabyte. As with other helical scan formats the most common problems involve failures within the drive mechanism when the tape is loaded resulting in creasing, stretching or snapping of the media, or mis-recording the data on the tape.

Logical problems relating to overwriting, data corruption and externally caused damage from fire, smoke or water have also been successfully dealt with.

Data Recovery from DDS DAT tapes

DAT came to the fore in the 1990s across the whole range of computer systems and platforms. The majority of problems during this time have related to tracking, where failing equipment has mis-recorded data on to the tape, and human factors such as the accidental re-initialising of tapes or the overuse of media resulting in tape becoming unreadable due to wear and tear.

DAT is still a popular format, though the latest version has moved from 4mm tape up to 8mm to keep up with the capacity requirements of its market space.

Data Recovery from Exabyte and VXA tapes

Exabyte 8mm cartridges became a leading backup format for mid-range systems (AS/400, UNIX and VAX) from the late 1980s as they provided a massive increase in data capacity over any other technology commonly available at that time. It also gained reasonably wide acceptance for higher end server backup.

The format lives on in VXA, Exabyte itself now being owned by Tandberg.

Data Recovery from any Computer Backup Tape

Tape recovery from a whole raft of other tape types is provided by Altirium, whether it be from the 9-track half-inch open reel tapes of the 1970's and 1980's, or the latest Sun/StorageTek T10000 drives.

However reliable a type of tape or drive might be it is still a mechanical device and has the potential to go wrong resulting in physical damage to the recorded media, or data recording quality problems. Add to this the involvement of humans and then accidental overwrites and damage to the tape through accident can be added to the equation.