Archive Pro Ethernet

10GbE network-based LTO tape backup/archiving solution that protects and preserves data longer and more economically than disk-based storage.

  • OWC Archive Pro Ethernet front view facing right
  • OWC Archive Pro Ethernet front view facing left
  • OWC Archive Pro Ethernet back view
  • OWC Archive Pro Ethernet front view
  • Two 10GbE ports: fast performance that seamlessly integrates into existing infrastructure
  • Fast tape creation: up to 400MB/s native, up to 1000MB/s1 compressed transfer rates
  • Store more: up to 18TB native, up to 45TB1 compressed storage capacity per tape cartridge
  • Instant ROI: offers a 501% ROI with up to 76% lower cost vs HDD storage
  • Flexible: built-in IBM LTO-7, LTO-8 or LTO-9 made in Japan premium drive options
  • Intuitive: simple GUI for managing and configuring network settings
  • Easy: drag, drop, and retrieve files with included Hedge Canister archiving app…a $399 value
  • LTFS compatible: archive files/folders with drag and drop ease and no proprietary software/hardware concerns
  • Compliance ready: supports non-LTFS compatible WORM cartridges required by legal and regulatory record keeping
  • Complete: includes LTO-data tape and cleaning tape
  • Secure: TAA compliant; supports AES 256-bit encryption for sensitive data
  • Certified: meets Intel Thunderbolt and OWC operating certifications for assured performance and reliability on MacOS and Windows
OWC Archive Pro Ethernet

The Solution for Your Growing Data Problem

Whether you create volumes of data files or creative media projects, you face the daunting challenge of managing an ever-increasing amount of more complex data. Higher resolution, complex audio, and diverse formats are the project norm. Licensing, regulatory, and compliance requirements are becoming more stringent.

The OWC Archive Pro Ethernet is the answer to content production growing 35% annually with 65% of it needing to be archived long-term.2 This easily integrated tape backup and archiving solution is a mission-critical requirement for protecting and preserving huge volumes of data with familiar drag-and-drop operation for longer periods and far lower cost than disk-based storage.

Drag and Drop Easy Archiving

The Archive Pro Ethernet uses archiving industry standard Linear Tape Open (LTO) tapes that can be formatted with the Linear Tape File System (LTFS) so you can access tapes just like a hard drive or SSD. Files appear in folders and moving them to/retrieving them from tape is drag and drop easy. And compatibility has never been more simple…thanks to LTFS, LTO tapes can be read from a Mac, PC, or Linux system so there’s no proprietary hardware or software concerns.

Drag and Drop Easy

Separation Has Its Benefits

With Ethernet as its primary interface to connect to the same network as your host device, you can place the Archive Pro Ethernet in a separate room or even a different building. Keeping the Archive Pro Ethernet separated from a host device gives you several key benefits:

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Enhanced Security

By placing your Archive Pro Ethernet in a secure, out-of-the-way location, you eliminate physical access to it. Plus, you can place it on a separate subnet or configure it so only authorized computers on the network can use it.

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Less Noise

LTO drives can create distracting noise. By locating your Archive Pro Ethernet further away from you, you can enjoy a quieter work environment.

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Better Host Compatibility

Archive Pro Ethernet works seamlessly with multiple servers over the network, even those without Thunderbolt ports. Forget specialized hardware—simply connect it to your existing systems.

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Improved Multi-User Collaboration

While only one person can read or write to an LTO tape at a time, multiple users can access and utilize the Archive Pro Ethernet over the network. This means one Archive Pro Ethernet can be shared across an entire organization, saving you the hassle of moving it from desk to desk.

Flexible and Future-Ready

Because LTFS is an open, cross-platform system, and LTO tape is the dominant archiving medium that has continued to advance since being introduced in 2000, you can be confident knowing you'll be able to access your data with any brand of LTO hardware for decades to come.

Whether you have an existing LTO tape archive or want to start archiving with the latest generation tape, you can configure the Archive Pro Ethernet to meet your data needs:

LTO-9 Drive: Read and Write LTO-8 and LTO-9 tapes

LTO 8 Drive: Read and Write LTO-7 and LTO-8 tapes

LTO-7 Drive: Read LTO-5, 6, and 7 tapes and Write LTO-6 and 7 tapes

LTO-7, LTO-8 Compatible, LTO-9 Ready

A Tale of the Tape: HDD vs LTO Archiving

Cost of storage media for 120TB to 180TB of data:

ROI Comparison - HDD vs. LTO

The Best ROI for You and The Environment

In addition to offering a much lower acquisition cost per terabyte vs disk-based storage, the Archive Pro Ethernet delivers the best ROI, longevity, and carbon footprint of any archiving method. In a 10-year model study, Solutions North Consulting (SCN) determined LTO-9 tape-based archiving offers a 501% ROI compared to HDD storage and up to 1856% ROI compared to cloud storage. Additionally, based on an eight-year life cycle, SCN found tape media has a carbon footprint that is over 25 times lower than HDDs and 55 times lower than SSDs.3

Cost of 1PB of data retained for 10 years

Tape vs HDD vs Cloud

Expected Lifespan of Storage in Years

Expected Lifespan of Storage in Years Graph

The Perfect Solution for a Variety of Industries

LTO Tape archiving is used by a wide variety of industries for diverse needs:

  • Anyone seeking offsite data storage that is separated from the read/write host.
  • Businesses desiring database and content backup protection against ransomware, cyber-attacks, and operations disruption due to natural disasters.
  • Local/State/Federal Government agencies with ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance) workflows; video and files related to law/ordinance passage and day-to-day operations.
  • Healthcare providers and organizations with medical records and imaging data.
  • Educational institutions needing to keep a myriad of data - including research - produced by students, teachers, and professors accessibly protected while freeing up more costly storage options for short term use and backup.
  • Video surveillance operations with increasing number of higher resolution colorized cameras.
  • Motion picture industry production companies needing to meet bondable and insurable archive requirements.
  • Digital media companies can free up production disk capacity and shorten production windows by reusing and editing existing footage for new productions.

Create. Protect. Send.

If you’re an M&E content creator/editor, a corporation or government branch professional, or small business owner with specific backup and archiving needs, the professional level Archive Pro Ethernet will help you:

  • Create more secure (air gapped, stored offsite) data backups and store them offsite for a longer period vs data stored on HDDs or SSDs.
  • Meet specific regulatory compliance policies such as Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, GLBA, ESIGN, FISMA, and ISO 27001.
  • Create large capacity archives of infrequently accessed media (completed video projects, completed customer ad campaigns).
  • Protect data against ransomware, cyber-attacks, and operations disruption due to natural disasters.
  • Separate hardware systems and data tapes for cost-effective disaster recovery.
  • Deliver high-capacity data projects to clients in a secure, more cost-effective format than HDDs or SSDs.
  • Meet bondable and insurable archive requirements.

Meets Stringent Regulations

Whether you need to keep sensitive data secure during transportation, or ensure irreplaceable data will be archive protected, the Archive Pro Ethernet enables healthcare, financial, and related industries to meet strict legal and regulatory procedures for data confidentiality and integrity. By using a WORM (Write Once, Read Many) LTO tape, you can store your data in a non-erasable, non-rewritable format to prevent accidental overwriting or malicious data alteration.

Easy on You. Easy on Your Tapes. Easy on Your Wallet.

Creating LTO tapes is easy with Hedge Canister. After breezing through a simple setup complete with driver selection assistance, use Canister’s amazingly user-friendly interface to drag and drop files to the Archive Pro Ethernet just like an external drive. Catalogs are created for every tape, so they mount as a network drive and are fully searchable by Finder. Now you can search for files and select only what you need to retrieve without activating the tape to prevent unneeded tape wear from winding back and forth. No longer are you forced to work around LTFS' shortcomings. This $399 value is futureproof, open to everyone with no vendor lock-in, and included with your Archive Pro Ethernet.

Canister Highlights:

  • Fully compatible with Ethernet based LTO systems
  • Create cross platform LTFS archives using LTO-7, LTO-8 or LTO-9 tapes
  • True drag & drop archiving/retrieve
  • Supports archiving to a single LTO or to two LTOs simultaneously
  • Supports tape spanning
  • xxHash64 verification ensures an exact replica of your source is copied to LTO
  • Catalogs are created for every tape
  • Catalogs mount as a network drive and are fully searchable by Finder (macOS)
  • Generates Transfer logs, Media Hash List and Manifests
OWC product line

Completes the OWC Solution

By expanding our LTO solution line with Archive Pro Ethernet, we offer the film industry, corporations, government branches, and even small businesses a trustworthy “ingest to archive” single source. With portable data capture options like the OWC ThunderBlade, OWC Express 1M2, and OWC Envoy Pro Elektron; desktop options like the ThunderBay line-up; Jellyfish NAS solutions built for video teams; and internal drive options like the Accelsior 8M2 PCIe SSD and OWC Aura Ultra IV NVMe M.2 SSD, OWC is the one project source that does it all for all those that create data.

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Certified for Demanding Use

We understand having confidence in gear reliability is paramount to creative professionals. That’s why every Archive Pro solution undergoes a multi-step performance certification prior to shipping. This ensures your archiving solution arrives operating properly and immediately ready for demanding use.

  1. LTO-9 tape 45TB / 1000MB/s with 2.5:1 data compression
  2. IDC® and ESG Research® studies
  3. Assumes 5% recall and retrieval from Cloud per month, and 5-year HDD refresh cycle. SCN study: https://www.lto.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Value-of-LTO-9.pdf