IBM LTO-6 and LTO-5 Half-High Drives With USB 3.0

IBM Corp.‘s TS2250 Tape Drive Express Model H5S and TS2260 Drive Express Model H6S external stand-alone or rack-mountable units are designed to offer high capacity, performance, and reliability for tape storage and retrieval in midrange systems environments.

By adding the strengths of USB 3.0 to these tape drives, customers can benefit from native USB 3.0 for plug-and-play installation. USB 3.0 will deliver up to 10 times the data transfer rate of Hi-Speed USB, as well as improved power efficiency. The TS2250 (3580-H5S) and TS2260 (3580-H6S) external tape drives are dual-port devices. When the USB 3.0 feature is installed, one port is USB 3.0 and the second port is SAS. A TS2250 or TS2260 without the USB 3.0 feature allows dual-port SAS attachment on IBM systems.

The USB 3.0 feature on TS2250 and TS2260 is available on System x and OEM servers with Windows 7, or later, and RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.4, or later. TS2250 and TS2260 tape drives with the USB 3.0 are also available on POWER Systems with RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.4, or later.

Following new hardware features available on TS2250 and TS2260 tape drives:

• USB 3.0 feature for direct attach to a USB 3.0 system port, as well as SAS attachment on a system SAS HBA
• External USB 3.0 cable
•  High performance external SAS cable

Key prerequisites
An order for IBM 3580 Models H5S and H6S with the USB-3 electronic interface must include the following feature numbers:

Feature / Description

• 5760 / USB 3.0/SAS single port attach
• 5761 / USB 3.0 2.7m cable

The USB 3.0 feature on TS2250 and TS2260 is available on System x and OEM servers with Windows 7, or later, and RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.4, or later. The TS2250 and TS2260 tape drives with the USB 3.0 are also available on IBM POWER Systems with RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.4, or later.

Field installable upgrades of an IBM 3580-H5S or 3580-H6S are not available.

Planned availability date
August 15, 2014