Editing Linear Tape-Open (section)

=== Durability ===

LTO tape is designed for 15 to 30 years of archival storage.<ref name="da-11529"/><ref name="sun.com"/> If tapes are archived for longer than 6 months they have to be stored at a temperature between {{convert|16|and|25|C|F}} and between 20 – 50% RH.<ref name="fujifilm-tape-recommendations">{{Cite web|url=https://tapepower.fujifilmrmd.com/Shared/PDF/knowledgebase/LTO_Tech%20&%20C&H_2015.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130062615/https://tapepower.fujifilmrmd.com/Shared/PDF/knowledgebase/LTO_Tech%20%26%20C%26H_2015.pdf|url-status=dead |archive-date=November 30, 2021|title=Fujifilm Tape Care & Handling Recommendations}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=IBM media environmental specifications|website = [[IBM]]|url=https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/ts3500-tape-library?topic=media-environmental-shipping-specifications-lto-tape-cartridges}}</ref>
Both drives and media should be kept free from airborne dust or other contaminants from packing and storage materials, paper dust, cardboard particles, printer toner dust etc.<ref name="fujifilm-tape-recommendations" />

Depending on the generation of LTO technology, a single LTO tape should be able to sustain approximately 200-364 full file passes.<ref name="imation-life" /> There is a large amount of lifespan variability in actual use. One full file pass is equal to writing enough data to fill an entire tape and takes between 44 and 208 end-to-end passes. Regularly writing only 50% capacity of the tape results in half as many end-to-end tape passes for each scheduled backup, and thereby doubles the tape lifespan. LTO uses an automatic verify-after-write technology to immediately check the data as it is being written,<ref name="primer3"/><ref name="NewsBytes_June_2011"/> but some backup systems explicitly perform a completely separate tape reading operation to verify the tape was written correctly. This separate verify operation doubles the number of end-to-end passes for each scheduled backup, and reduces the tape life by half.