Term of the Moment
flagship product
Definition: DLT
(1) (Distributed Ledger Technology) See blockchain law and distributed ledger.
(2) (Digital Linear Tape) An earlier magnetic tape technology developed by Digital Equipment for its VAX line. Acquired by Quantum, DLT was made available to other manufacturers. DLT used half-inch, single-hub cartridges similar to IBM's 3480/3490/3590 line. Depending on model, the 128 or 208 linear tracks provided native capacities from 40 to 80GB. DLT usage grew rapidly in the mid-1990s and was widely used on medium to large-scale LANs.
SuperDLT
SuperDLT (SDLT) offered native capacities of 110GB, 160GB and 300GB; however, they were advertised as compressed (SDLT 220, 320 and 600). SDLT native transfer rates were 11-36MB/sec compared to DLT at 3-8MB/sec. SDLT drives could read DLT IV cartridges. See magnetic tape.
DLT and SDLT Cartridges
Single-hub Cartridges
(2) (Digital Linear Tape) An earlier magnetic tape technology developed by Digital Equipment for its VAX line. Acquired by Quantum, DLT was made available to other manufacturers. DLT used half-inch, single-hub cartridges similar to IBM's 3480/3490/3590 line. Depending on model, the 128 or 208 linear tracks provided native capacities from 40 to 80GB. DLT usage grew rapidly in the mid-1990s and was widely used on medium to large-scale LANs.
SuperDLT
SuperDLT (SDLT) offered native capacities of 110GB, 160GB and 300GB; however, they were advertised as compressed (SDLT 220, 320 and 600). SDLT native transfer rates were 11-36MB/sec compared to DLT at 3-8MB/sec. SDLT drives could read DLT IV cartridges. See magnetic tape.
Like IBM tapes, DLT/SDLT used half-inch linear recording in single-hub cartridges. After insertion, the tape was pulled out from the cartridge onto the take-up reel inside the drive.
DLT, Magstar and SAIT all used half-inch, single-hub cartridges in which the tape was fed onto a take-up reel inside the drive. While DLT and Magstar used linear recording, SAIT was helical scan.