VeriSecure LTO Tape Eraser & "Green" Recycler

VeriSecure LTO Tape Eraser & "Green" Recycler

Destroying cartridges is expensive. 
Most decommissioned cartridges are destroyed. Destroying cartridges is expensive and hostile to the environment. Our technology offers an alternative that is environmentally friendly and also saves you money. Decommissioned cartridges could often be redeployed within the same enterprise. Instead of purchasing new cartridges, a data center within an organization could use decommissioned cartridges from another data center. In other instances the decommissioned cartridges can be sold to the large and vibrant used LTO cartridge market.

Whether redeploying cartridges within an organization or selling cartridges, the most important issue for the owner of the media is the erasing of the data before a cartridge is moved off site. For the intended recipient of the used cartridges the issue is knowing the quality of the cartridges.

Erasing the data
Before media is moved even within an enterprise, the data have to be completely erased. Our equipment is capable of erasing the data at a level that is unrepresented. The erase procedure is secure and fast.

Data Security
In many instances tape cartridges containing expired, but still confidential data are stored in unsecured locations. The cartridges may have been returned from off-site storage or from other locations. These cartridges are often stored outside of a library until they are used again to archive new data.
Erasing the data before the cartridges are stored eliminates the risk of expired, but confidential data ending up in unexpected and undesirable places.

Improving Reliability
Overwriting a tape leaves some magnetization of the original write on the tape. With repeated overwrites the remaining magnetization can increase to a level that increases the tape’s error rates. Our erase process uses magnetic fields that are several times stronger than the magnetic field used by the drive to write data. All magnetizations from all write operations are erased and the tape is magnetically as new.

Knowing the cartridge quality
Even when the cartridge comes from a data center of the same enterprise, its condition may not be known. It could have been used past its life time, or it could have been used in a mis-adjusted tape drive. Our equipment analyzes the complete history of the cartridge, measures the edge quality [Why does the edge quality matter?] and gives the recipient a comprehensive report. See Quality Report for details.

Cleaning up the Cartridge Memory
When archival data are written to tape the archival software and the library may write auxiliary data to the Cartridge Memory (CM). These auxiliary data are added to the data previously stored in the CM. The capacity of the CM is limited and after several uses of the cartridge, the limits of its capacity may be reached. In addition to removing the data from tape, our eraser also removes all expired data from the CM, without removing any important statistical data.

Features

• Small size, light weight - Our equipment can easily be transported to your site. Your cartridges do not have to leave their secure location before all data are removed.
• Easy to use - Many of our customers have erased their own tapes without problems.
• Fast operation - One operator can erase up to 1,000 tape in a single shift.
• Identifying erased cartridges - Every erased cartridge is identified by a secure record in the cartridge memory. The buyer of the cartridge can obtain complete erase and quality information from every cartridge. more
• Providing the Service - Too busy to erase thousands of cartridges? We will come to your site with our equipment and erase the cartridges for you.
• Leasing the Equipment - Our equipment is available for lease on a per cartridge basis. There is no upfront cost for the purchase of expensive equipment that may be used only occationally.
• Arranging the sale of your cartridges - We can even arrange the sale of your cartridges, if you do not wish to enter the used cartridge market.
• Ready to start erasing?

Two LTO Cartridge Erasing Methods

Secure Erase for exremely security sensitive sites

Owners of tape cartridges must have complete confidence that the data have been erased before the cartridges are discarded. Whether the cartridge is redeployed within the same organization or sold outside the organization, protecting the data confidentiality is paramount. Secure Erase is the best available technology to remove the data.

• Secure EraseTM is more secure than overwrite
  When data are overwritten by the same type of equipment that originally wrote the data, some of the original data remain on tape. With sophisticated methods, these data can be recovered. The erase component in the Secure Erase equipment generates magnetic fields that are many times more powerful than the write components in a tape drive. This strong magnetic field penetrates the entire magnetic layer of the tape and removes the data entirely.
  
  
• Secure EraseTM is much faster than overwrite
  Secure Erase takes less than 4 minutes per cartridge. It can take several hours to overwrite a cartridge, making this process very expensive.
  
  
• Independent cartification.
  Leading recovery specialists confirm that no data can be recovered from secure erased tapes.
  
  

Quick Erase, the economical alternative

Quick Erase is the fastest and most economical way to erase a cartridge. It takes less than 1 minute per cartridge. LTO drives use an "End of Data Mark" (EOD) mark to indicate the end of the recording. After the last data record (blue in the picture below), an EOD (red) mark is written. Data beyond this mark, such as data from a previous write operation, are inaccessable to all LTO drives.

Quick Erase writes an EOD mark at the beginning of the tape.

• Before Quick Erase. Data records (blue) are followed by EOD mark (red).
  
  

• After Quick Erase. A EOD mark was added to the beginning of the tape.
  
  

• All LTO drives discontinue reading as soon as the EOD mark is found. An EOD mark at the beginning of tape indicates empty tape.

• Quick EraseTM prevents access to remaining data records
  Accessing the remaining data beyond the EOD mark requires sophisticated knowledge and expensive equipment. Quick Erase prevents not only accidental access to the remaining data, but also prevents all but the most sophisticated deliberate attempts to read the remaining data.