LTO generations and drive compatibility

An LTO drive can read tapes at most one or two generations older than itself, and LTO-10 drives cannot read older tapes at all, so every new generation leaves older cartridges with fewer drives that can read them. If your library holds LTO-4, LTO-5 or LTO-6 tapes, the drives that read them are no longer made, and each upgrade cycle makes the problem worse. The table below shows which drives read which tapes.

LTO generations at a glance

Up to LTO-7, a drive reads two generations back and writes one back. LTO-8 and LTO-9 drives read and write only one generation back. LTO-10, launched in 2025, is the first generation that cannot read the one before it at all: its drives use a new servo format and accept only LTO-10 cartridges. Native capacity is shown; vendors also quote larger compressed figures.

Why old LTO tapes get stranded

• The drive window closes. An LTO-5 tape needs an LTO-5, LTO-6 or LTO-7 drive. None of those generations is sold new any more, and an LTO-8 or LTO-9 drive cannot read it.
• The software that wrote the tape matters. Archive and backup applications often write in their own formats. Without the same application, or a tool that understands its format, the files on the tape cannot be restored even with a working drive.
• Catalogs go missing. The database that says which file is on which cartridge is often lost, out of date or tied to a retired system, so a library holds cartridges known only by a label.
• Encryption keys get lost. LTO-4 and later support hardware encryption. A tape written with encryption cannot be read without its key.

Signs it is time to migrate

• Your newest drive is at least two generations ahead of your oldest tapes.
• Only one or two working drives can still read part of the library.
• The archive software that wrote the tapes is out of support or no longer installed.
• Nobody can say with confidence what is on the cartridges.

How Meta Martis migrates LTO

Most collections hold three or four LTO generations on the same shelf, and no single current drive can read them all. We supply the mix of drives that matches what is actually there, covering LTO-3 through LTO-9, and read the tape formats written by the common archive systems.

• Checksummed twice. Every file is checksummed coming off the tape and again when it lands.
• A verified count. You receive a verified count of what moved, plus a list of anything that did not.

Content is read from the cartridges in bulk, verified and normalized into files you can use, without tying the outcome to any one library vendor. The files are indexed with on-premises AI, so the content becomes searchable by speech, faces, on-screen text, logos and scenes, and they land on storage you own in non-proprietary formats, with a protected Meta8 copy. Where a videotape migration runs at the same time, both streams are coordinated under one project plan.

Support depends on generation, readable media, working drives, archive software, catalogs and encryption keys, so every project starts by establishing what is actually on the tapes and what is worth migrating first.

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