SAS interface

LTO drives can have a dual port 12 Gbps SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) host interface.The SAS interface speed varies with the generation of the LTO™ drive. For more information on SAS speed of different generation drives, see Tape drives.

A drive with a SAS interface can be linked directly to controllers. SAS is a performance improvement over traditional SCSI because SAS enables multiple devices (up to 128) of different sizes and types to be connected simultaneously with thinner and longer cables. Its full-duplex signal transmission supports up to 12.0 Gbps. In addition, SAS drives can be hot-plugged.

SAS drives auto-negotiate speed. There are no configurable topologies thus no feature switches associated with SAS.