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One option is the Next Compatible Tape Product (NCTP), a new half-inch tape drive that offers increased speed, greater capacity, improved reliability and the ability to retrieve data from older tape cartridges. NCTP is a third-generation tape drive manufactured by Philips Laser Magnetic Storage and developed specifically to help end users transfer data quickly without having to contend with frequent tape swaps. NCTP is also backwards compatible with 18- and 36-track 3480 and 3490E cartridges.
NCTP cartridges hold a native 18GB of data, or 90 times the capacity of a 3480 tape, and 54GB average using LZ1 data compression - more than 22 times the capacity of a 3490E tape. Contributing to NCTP's increased capacity is a thinner media that allows 2,100 feet of tape per cartridge and a 108-track density. To control the movements of this thinner tape, NCTP uses ceramic guides rather than air bearings.
Reliability features include the drive's ability to distinguish old chrome tape from new NCTP media. It does this by using a patent-pending actuator and roller in the tape path to prevent contact with two of its three heads. Once the drive recognizes it's reading chrome tape,...