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Historical review of tape use at CERN


Last update 1 February 2001. New items are marked by
Tape devices and tape media have been in use at CERN for more than 30 years. This should provide a good deal of information on the practical life expectation of media, and the evolution of storage costs for a large-scale data user such as CERN.

In practice, this information is rather hard to find. What I have managed to (re)discover is listed below, and I would be delighted to receive (and to acknowledge) further contributions, or corrections.

1977

CNL 126, June 1977: due to the large number of tapes in the Tape Vault (~55K) the need to archive tapes is announced.
CNL 127, September 1977: IBM 1600/6250 bpi tape units are introduced. Data rate is ~1.25 MBytes/s.

1978

CNL 138, October 1978: A single mount is charged at 22.5 FS.

1979

CNL 144, May 1979: a new 800/1600 bpi service is introduced using CDC's 67X tape drives, which will replace the older 66X devices. These tapes are 9-track, half inch width and 2400 feet in length. A single mount is charged at 17.7 FS.

1981

CNL 156, February 1981: CDC's new 669 1600/6250 bpi units replace the older 679 units.

1982

CNL 161, January 1982: all 7-tr tape service ends.

1985

CNL 181, October 1985: the IBM 3480 (200 MB and 3 MBytes/s) units are introduced.

1987

CNL 189, September 1987: the IBM 3480 (200 MB and 3 MBytes/s) media costs 16 FS. The older 9-tr 3420 media (150 MB) costs 24 FS.

1988

CNL 190, January 1988: all 800 bpi service ends.

1989

CNL 196, July 1989: the Summit unit (3480 compatible) is announced by STK. Eventually, 10 of these equipped with 10-cartridge stackers will be used to migrate 3480 data to Redwood...

1990

CNL 200, July 1990: an IBM 3495 robot (SMCF) is installed, offering 16 3480 units and 16,800 slots.

1991

CNL 202, April 1991: Exabyte 8mm units are attached to the IBM VM service for test.

In October 1991, the CERN Stores Catalog shows media costs as:

9-tr 150 MB: 22.52 FS
3480 200 MB: 8.21 FS
Exabyte 5 GB: 20.48 FS

1992

CNL 205, January 1992: Exabyte 8200 and 8500 units provide a service on the IBM VM system.

CNL 207, May 1992: an IBM 3495 robot (SMCG) is installed, offering 16 3490E units and 16,800 slots. Media costs are:

3480 200 MB: 10 FS
3490 800 MB: 19 FS

1993

CNL 213, June 1993: all 9-tr tape services end.

1995

CNL 221, July 1995: retirement of the IBM 3495 robot (SMCF) which offered 16 3480 units and 16,800 slots is announced.

The delivery of an IBM 3494 library (2000 slots) and IBM 3590 Magstar units (9 MBytes/s, 10 GB cartridges) is planned for December.

The delivery of an ATL/Odetics 820 library with 244 slots and 3 Digital DLT 2000 units (~1 MBytes/s, 10 GB cartridges) is planned for December.

In 1995, the CERN Stores Catalog shows media costs as:

9-tr 150 MB: 27.00 FS
3480 200 MB: 4.56 FS
Exabyte 5 GB: 10.76 FS

1996

CNL 225, October 1996: STK equipment for the Tape Automation Project is selcted, and installation is planned as:

15 January 1997: 1 Powderhorn, 4 Redwood SD3 units
1 March 1997: 2 Powderhorns, 16 Redwood SD3 units
15 January 1998: 3 Powderhorns, 32 Redwood SD3 units

TARB (Tape Automation Review Board) notes of JPB give the cost of a 160 GB Ampex DST 310 unit tape as 560 FS (18/6/96).

In December 1996, the SMCG 3495 robot is retired. It offered 16 3490E units and 16,800 slots.

1997

In the Weekly Bulletin 8/97 (Monday 17 February) the first STK Powderhorn installation is described.

TARB (Tape Automation Review Board) notes of JPB give the cost of a 50 GB Redwood tape as 110 FS (7/5/97).

In June 1997, migration of data on 3480 media to Redwood starts.

CNL 229, October 1997: STK Redwood media costs 2 FS/GB (100 FS for a 50 GB cartridge).

1998

CNL 230, January 1998: the migration of data on 3480 media to Redwood is described.

In the Weekly Bulletin 14/98 (Monday 30 March) the end of the scrapping and migration process involving ~250,000 3480 cartridges is announced.

At a Tape User's Meeting in November 1998, media costs are announced as:

50 GB Redwood: 60 FS
10 GB 3590: 53 FS
10 GB DLT7000 (CompacTape IV): 100 FS

1999

CNL 235, April 1999: STK's 9840 unit enters service. This is a 10 MBytes/s, 20 GB twin-reel cartridge device.

CNL 237, October 1999: a second STK silo complex is started in the Tape Vault.

In October 1999, media costs are announced as:

In December 1999, media costs are announced as:

10 GB 3590: 40 FS
10 GB DLT7000 (CompacTape IV): 100 FS

2000

In January 2000, R.Minchin noted the costs of media (some shown in the CERN Stores Catalog) as:

Redwood 50 GB: 48.40 FS
3590 J 10 GB: 44.95 FS
DLT 2000 10 GB: 51.00 FS
DLT 7000 35 GB: 95.50 FS
STK 9840 20 GB: 115.05 FS

In October 2000, a stand-alone STK Powderhorn (STK_ACS4) is installed in the Tape Vault, intended to support Redwood migration to 9940.

Tests begin of STK's 9940 unit (linear serpentine, 60 GB cartridge, 10 MBytes/s) using STK_ACS4.
Tests also begin of IBM's Ultrium/LTO unit (linear serpentine, 100 GB cartridge, 15 MBytes/s) in a 3584 library.

2001

In February 2001, 28 STK 9940 units are installed: 14 in STK_ACS4, and 7 in STK_ACS3 and STK_ACS0.


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Charles Curran