Chapter 1. Introduction

The IBM TotalStorage Enterprise Tape System 3590 provides high capacity, performance, reliability, and a wide range of host connectivity. The IBM 3590 has the following functions:

vThe 3590 creates tapes for archival files.

vThe 3590 backs up and restores systems in case of system or disk storage problems.

vThe 3590 stores high-speed, high-capacity sequential application data sets.

vThe 3590 stores temporary data sets.

vThe 3590 satisfies off-site data storage for disaster recovery.

vThe 3590 provides data interchange with other systems that use 3590 subsystems.

vThe 3590 meets data acquisition needs.

 

The IBM TotalStorage Enterprise Tape System 3590 comes in different models

 

and offers several attachment options to meet your needs. Each drive can

 

have an automatic cartridge facility (ACF) with a 10-cartridge magazine. The

 

drives have a small computer system interface (SCSI) attachment or Fibre

 

Channel Attachment. Only the 3590 Model E is attachable to Fibre Channel.

 

Each drive can connect to an IBM 3590 tape controller for Enterprise Systems

 

CONnection (ESCON) or FIbre CONnections (FICON) attachment of a 3590.

 

Large scale automation offerings, which include the IBM TotalStorage

 

Enterprise Automated Tape Library (3494) and StorageTekSilo, support the

 

3590.

 

The 3590 Bxx tape drives read and write data on 128-track format on IBM

 

3590 High Performance Cartridge Tape. This read, and write function results

 

in a 10GB uncompressed data tape capacity. Model Exx tape drives read and

 

write data on the 256-track format on IBM High Performance Cartridge Tape.

 

This read, and write function results in a 20GB tape. The Extended High

 

Performance Cartridge Tape increases the IBM TotalStorage 3590 E Model

 

256-track serpentine format capacity to 40GB. It also increases the IBM

 

TotalStorage 3590 B Model 128-track serpentine format capacity to 20GB.

 

At 3 to 1 compression on the High Performance Cartridge Tape, the capacity

 

increases to 60GB on E models and 30GB on B models. The Extended High

 

Performance Cartridge Tape doubles the compressed capacities to 120GB on E

 

models and 60GB on B models. E models have a 14MB per second device data

 

rate, and B models have a 9MB per second transfer rate.

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With data compression, the 3590 drives can more effectively utilize the full

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capability of the Fibre Channel data rate. Data compression also enhances the

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1995, 2001

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IBM 3590 manual Introduction