- Digital speed matching
- Giant Magneto Resistive (GMR) head design
- Power management
The Ultrium 5 tape drive is designed to perform dynamic speed matching at one of 14 speeds to adjust the drive's native data rate as closely as possible to the net host data rate (after data compressibility has been factored out). This helps reduce the number of backhitch repositions and improve throughput performance.
LTO 5 features the GMR head with beveled contouring for reducing stiction/friction, especially with smoother LTO 5 media type. This head design is well proven in enterprise tape products and helps minimize contact, edge damage, debris accumulation, and wear on the tape as it moves over the read/write heads.
The Ultrium 5 tape drive power management function is designed to control the drive electronics to be either completely turned off or in a low-power mode when the circuit functions are not needed for drive operation.