TheVXA-1 tape drive is designed for the storage and management of enterprise-wide, mission-critical data. The VXA-1 tape drive is capable of storing 33 gigabytes (GB) of native data on a 170-meter VXAtape and can transfer data at a sustained rate of 3 megabytes (MB) per second (native).
For simple and convenient system integration, the VXA-1 tape drive is available in external and internal models. The internal VXA-1 complies with industry standard 5.25-inch half-high form factor mounting requirements and can be mounted horizontally or vertically. The external standalone model is housed in an enclosure that allows the device to be placed horizontally or vertically on a flat surface. External models can also be stacked. Neither model can be installed upside down.
The internal model of the VXA-1 tape drive is available with either a wide, Ultra2 SCSI low-voltage differential (LVD) interface or an IDE/ATAPI interface. The external model of the tape drive is available with either a wide, Ultra2 SCSI low-voltage differential (LVD) interface or a FireWire interface.
| Cartridge Model | Tape Length | Capacity, Native | Capacity, Compressed |
| V17 | 170M | 33GB | 66GB |
| V10 | 120M | 20GB | 40GB |
| V6 | 62M | 12GB | 24GB |
a) Maximum capacity; assumes the host computer keeps the tape drive streaming.
b) Assumes a 2:1 compression ratio. Actual compressed capacity varies depending on the type of data being recorded. The VXA-1 tape drive uses the ALDC (Adaptive Lossless Data Compression) algorithm and integrated circuit chip. The ALDC algorithm is compliant with the European Computer Manufacturers
Association (ECMA) standard. Data compression is controlled by the software application.
c) One gigabyte equals 1,000,000,000 bytes.