LTO9, LTO Ultrium 9 Data Cartridges

LTO9 tapes, LTO ULtrium 9 data cartridges or LTO Ultrium format Gen 9 has been announced but will not be available until the first half of next year, 2021. The LTO9 cartridge will have up to 18TB of native capacity and up to 45TB of compressed capacity. This is triple the LTO7 tape native capacity (6TB), double the LTO7 M8 native tape capacity (9TB) and 1.5 times the LTO8 tape native capacity (12TB). 

For LTO-9, the LTO Consortium elected to balance cost, performance and capacity by offering an 18 TB native tape cartridge to address the current market for storage demand. A new LTO roadmap has been established with the goal to double capacity in each generation moving forward as with past LTO Generation releases.