The F6456, which began shipping in September 1992, was Fujitsu’s mid-range tape library that used IBM 3480-format tape media. Fujitsu already had the F6455 tape library (which started shipping in April 1989) that worked with IBM 3480-format tape media. The F6456, however, was a compact tape library developed for small-scale systems out of increasing demands for automated operation.
- The F6456 had the following features:
- （1）Installation of the compact tape library was extremely easy since the enclosure occupied about only one square meter
- （2）The library’s tape drives used 36-track IBM 3480-format cartridges that held up to 200 MB of data
- （3）The library could store up to 65 GB of uncompressed data when its maximum allotment of 315 cartridges were installed
- （4）Came with a cartridge loading and unloading mechanism that could load 10 cartridges and unload 15 cartridges sequentially
- （5）Had a stacker that loaded and unloaded up to 35 cartridges at a time
| F6456 tape library | F6455 tape library (for reference) |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial shipping date | September 1992 | April 1989 | |
| Max. storage capacity | 65GB | 135 - 1,056GB（*1） | |
| Max. number of tape cartridges | 315 | 658 - 5,152 | |
| Cartridge transport time | Mounting: 10s Mounting: 12s |
10 s on average | |
| Tape loading / unloading times | 8 s / 7 s on average | 11 s / 11 s on average | |
| Data transfer speed [MB/s] | 3.0 | 3.0 | |
| Onboard components | Base device | FACOM6472 magnetic tape drive |
FACOM6470 magnetic tape drive |
| Tape drives | 2 or 4 | 4, 8, 12, or 16 | |
| Controllers | 1 or 2 | 2 or 4 | |
| Selectors | 1 | 2 | |
| Configuration types | 2 | 20 | |
| Number of channels | Up to four (up to two channels per controller) |
Up to 24 (up to six channels per controller) |
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| Other notes |
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*1. Maximum values depend on the library’s configuration.
