Sony AIT-5 Storage Tapes FAQ's
 AIT technology reflects Sony's 50 years of innovation and technical excellence in magnetic recording. AIT drives and media are characterized by 8mm media form-factor in a compact 3.5-inch drive mechanism featuring helical-scan recording, unique Memory-in-Cassette (MIC) architecture, advanced read/write head technology and the exclusive use of Advanced Metal Evaporated (AME) media. These characteristics result in high capacity and performance, outstanding reliability, fast data search and superior data protection through the use of Write-Once-Read-Many (WORM) capability. Since the AIT technology platform was announced in 1996, Sony has continuously enhanced the format, introducing multiple generations of AIT with applications spanning from the desktop to the enterprise. AIT enjoys broad customer support, with over 500,000 drives installed worldwide. Why Advanced Intelligent Tape (AIT) So many Information Technology "breakthroughs" ask you to abandon existing assets. Not Sony AIT. Not only do our very latest drives support legacy media, but Sony also continues to support-indeed enhance-previous generations of AIT1! The new AIT-5 cartridges and drives deliver on our commitment to double capacity with each new generation. And not only is Sony extending the AIT family to new entry levels with the exceptionally cost effective AIT-E Turbo and AIT-1 Turbo drives and media, but we also continue to ship and enhance our prior generations of products with our new AIT- Turbo products. Sony design labs have already developed and proven the AIT technology needed to support what is required to achieve our roadmap out to AIT-62. To protect today's data investment and to stay ahead of tomorrow's storage needs, go with AIT. AIT – A Roadmap for Expansion 
Drive & Library Series and Turbo Media Compatibility
Drive & Library Series and Non-Turbo Media Compatibility
What’s New In AIT-5? AIT-5 is the smallest tape technology to offer massive native capacity of 400 GB and sustained native transfer rate of up to 24 MB/second. With compression, the AIT-5 format will also enable stored capacity of up to 1.04 TB per cartridge. Helical-scan Recording Technology Helical-scan Recording Technology Helical-scan recording technology, based on a very stable rotating drum/head platform, and permits accurate and very reliable data recording at very high track densities. This efficient packing density is typically five times greater than most linear-serpentine methods and results in space-efficient storage solutions. MR Read Head Technology AIT-5 is the first Sony tape format to feature MR (magneto-resistive) heads. These more sensitive heads can handle higher recording densities and thus enable greater capacity per media cartridge. Dynamic Tracking To enhance signal read-back quality, dynamic tracking capabilities inside AIT-5 controls the MR head position, while on the fly, as data is read. The AIT-5 tape head fluctuates and tracks with the recorded data to ensure maximum data read-back strength and recovery. AME III Tape AIT-5 media is based on AME II technology, which enables the media’s extraordinary areal recording density, as well as, its high durability and clean running operation. AME III improves upon its predecessor, AME II, with a new method for applying the magnetic layer to the tape, an enforced coating layer and a newly developed lubricant for stable operation. AME III media realizes high output and low noise through an improved metal evaporated method, resulting in smaller magnetic particles and a smoother tape that minimizes the spacing loss between the magnetic head and the magnetic layer. R-MIC R-MIC is a non-volatile chip built into the data cartridge that provides quick media loads and allows fast searches to data. The R-MIC chip contains the tape’s system log, search map and user-definable information, allowing the drive to advance at a high speed directly to any file on the tape. Write Once, Read Many (WORM) Functionality For an added level of data protection, AIT-5 and previous-generation AIT drives support WORM functionality. WORM-enabled tape drives and media cartridges allow backed-up data to be easily accessed, but not over-written, altered or erased, offering an extremely cost-effective storage technology for storing sensitive and regulated archive data. WORM media is necessary to take advantage of an AIT drive’s write-once recording capabilities. At present, only Sony offers WORM functionality in the 8mm mid-range tape drive category. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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