HPE LTO-8 30TB RW Data Cartridge - Q2078A

HPE Q2078A LTO-8 Ultrium 30TB Rewritable Data Cartridge

Overview

The HPE Q2078A is an LTO-8 Ultrium rewritable tape cartridge rated at 30TB compressed capacity (2.5:1 ratio, 12TB native) with a 700 MB/sec read speed — the right choice for data centers and enterprise backup environments where high-throughput, high-density offline storage is non-negotiable. Built on barium ferrite base material with 6,656 data tracks and a bit density of 525 kbits/inch, this cartridge is engineered for the demands of long-cycle retention and compliance archiving. Explore the full HPE storage and data protection line for compatible drives and libraries.

Key Features

• 30TB Compressed Capacity (2.5:1): At 12TB native and 30TB compressed, a single Q2078A cartridge can absorb an entire mid-sized server's backup window — fewer cartridge swaps, lower media costs per terabyte versus earlier LTO generations.
• 700 MB/sec Read Speed: Sustained 700 MB/sec read throughput means a full 30TB restore completes in roughly 12 hours under ideal conditions — meaningful when RTO targets are tight and you're recovering large datasets.
• AES 256-bit Encryption: Hardware-level AES 256-bit encryption keeps data protected at rest without any performance penalty on the drive side — required for HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and similar compliance frameworks that mandate encryption of archived data.
• 30-Year Archival Life: A 30-year archival life rating means cartridges written today remain readable well into long-term retention cycles — relevant for legal holds, medical records, and financial archives where decade-plus retention is mandatory.
• Barium Ferrite Base Material: BaFe magnetic coating provides higher coercivity (2,300 Oe) than metal particle media, delivering better resistance to demagnetization over time — the reason LTO-8 can credibly claim 30-year shelf stability.
• 6,656 Data Tracks: The high track density (525 kbits/inch, 960m tape length, 12.65mm wide) is what enables the step-change in capacity from LTO-7 without increasing cartridge form factor — existing LTO-8 drive slots and libraries remain compatible.
• Write-on Labels Included: Physical write-on labels ship in the box, so tape librarians can immediately identify cartridges without waiting on barcode label procurement — minor detail that matters on large-scale initial deployments.
• Lightweight at 0.28 kg: At 280g per cartridge, high-density tape libraries can be populated without structural load concerns, and shipping costs for off-site vaulting remain manageable even at scale.

Integration & Compatibility

The Q2078A is designed for use with LTO-8 Ultrium tape drives and libraries. LTO-8 drives can also read LTO-7 cartridges (one generation back read/write compatibility is standard in the LTO roadmap). For enterprise backup software integration — including HPE Data Protector, Veeam, Veritas NetBackup, and Commvault — the cartridge is transparent to the software layer; media management is handled by the drive and library controller. Pair with a compatible tape autoloader or library for unattended backup cycles. For a full comparison of LTO generation capacities and use cases, see our backup storage buying guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the native (uncompressed) capacity of the Q2078A?

A: The Q2078A is rated at 30TB compressed at a 2.5:1 ratio, which equals 12TB native uncompressed capacity.

Q: Does the Q2078A support hardware encryption?

A: Yes. The Q2078A supports AES 256-bit encryption, implemented at the drive hardware level when using a compatible LTO-8 drive with encryption enabled.

Q: What is the archival life of the Q2078A?

A: HPE rates the Q2078A for a 30-year archival life under proper storage conditions.

Q: What base material does the Q2078A tape use?

A: The tape uses barium ferrite (BaFe) magnetic coating with a coercivity of 2,300 Oe, which contributes to long-term data stability.

Q: What is the warranty on the Q2078A?

A: HPE provides a Limited Lifetime Warranty on the Q2078A data cartridge.

Q: Can the Q2078A be read by an LTO-7 drive?

A: No. LTO-8 cartridges require an LTO-8 drive. LTO backward compatibility allows LTO-8 drives to read LTO-7 media, but not the reverse — an LTO-7 drive cannot read or write LTO-8 cartridges.

Marty Allison

The Q2078A earns its place in serious backup architectures on the strength of one spec: 30TB compressed per cartridge at 700 MB/sec read throughput. For environments running nightly full backups of multi-terabyte databases or NAS volumes, that combination directly determines how many cartridges you're managing and how fast you can recover when it matters.

Technical Highlights:

• AES 256-bit Encryption: Handled at the drive layer — no CPU overhead on the backup server, no key management bolted on after the fact. Critical for any regulated archive (HIPAA, PCI-DSS, SOX) where encryption of offline media is a hard requirement, not a preference.
• Barium Ferrite at 2,300 Oe Coercivity: Higher coercivity than legacy metal particle media translates directly to resistance against ambient magnetic fields during storage and transport — the physics behind that 30-year archival life rating.
• 525 kbits/inch Bit Density over 960m of Tape: The combination of track count (6,656) and linear density is how LTO-8 doubled capacity over LTO-7 without changing the cartridge shell — which means your existing library slots, robotics, and cleaning procedures carry over unchanged.

Deployment Considerations:

• Compressed capacity assumes a 2.5:1 ratio — real-world yield on already-compressed data (video files, encrypted databases, pre-compressed backups) will be closer to native 12TB. Size your media pool against native capacity for conservative planning.
• The Limited Lifetime Warranty covers the cartridge itself, not data recovery — store cartridges per HPE environmental guidelines (temperature, humidity) to ensure the 30-year archival life spec is actually achievable in practice.

This cartridge is the right call for compliance-driven long-term retention environments — legal, medical, and financial archives where 30-year readability, AES 256-bit encryption, and a credible media warranty are non-negotiable, and where tape remains the most cost-effective offline tier at scale.