Yes, for some jobs. Magnetic tape is slow to retrieve data from, but it costs little to store large volumes and can be kept physically offline. Ars Technica reports that Fujifilm plans to raise tape production fivefold because AI is driving demand for archiving.
Key takeaways
- Ars Technica reports that Fujifilm intends to increase its magnetic tape production fivefold, citing demand for archiving linked to artificial intelligence.
- Magnetic tape is still used for long-term storage mainly because it is cheap per unit of data and can be stored offline.
- Tape suits data that must be kept for a long time but is rarely read, rather than files that need instant access.
- A tape cartridge stored on a shelf is not connected to any network, so attackers who break into a system cannot reach it remotely.
- Tape works best as one layer of a wider backup and archiving plan, alongside disk and cloud storage, rather than replacing them.
What is Fujifilm planning to do with tape production?
Ars Technica reports that Fujifilm, one of the established makers of magnetic tape media, plans to increase its tape production fivefold. The publication links the decision to growing demand for archival storage, with artificial intelligence named as a major cause. The report’s framing is that magnetic tape is an old technology that still has a role: it is cheap to store data on, and it can be kept offline, which improves security.
Several details are not known from the material available here. These include the timetable for the expansion, the factories or regions involved, the amount being invested and the tape formats that would benefit. Readers should treat the fivefold figure as Fujifilm’s stated plan as reported, not as a description of capacity already in place. Industrial expansions of this kind can take time and depend on demand holding up.
For anyone deciding how to store data, the announcement itself matters less than what it signals. A large manufacturer expects organisations to keep buying tape in larger volumes. That supports the view that tape is an active part of storage planning, not a legacy technology being slowly phased out.
Why is tape back in the news now?
The immediate reason is the link to artificial intelligence. Building and running AI systems involves large amounts of data, including training datasets, model versions, logs and outputs. Organisations often want to keep this material for reproducibility, auditing, legal reasons or possible reuse, even when nobody needs to read it day to day.
Data like this is a natural fit for archiving: it is valuable enough to keep but too large and too rarely used to justify expensive, always-on storage. Ars Technica’s report presents rising AI-driven archiving demand as the reason for Fujifilm’s expansion. How much of that demand comes from AI specifically, and how much from wider data growth, is not set out in the material available here.
Security is a second factor. The source names offline storage as one of tape’s advantages. Concern about ransomware and other attacks that encrypt or delete data on connected systems has made many organisations look again at copies that cannot be reached over a network.
How does magnetic tape storage actually work?
Magnetic tape stores data on a long, thin strip of magnetically coated material wound inside a cartridge. A tape drive reads and writes data as the tape moves past a head. Most modern business tape uses standard cartridge formats, the best known being Linear Tape-Open (LTO). Successive generations of a format typically add capacity.
The key technical point for newcomers is that tape uses sequential access. To reach a particular file, the drive has to wind the tape to the right position, which can take a noticeable amount of time. Hard drives and solid-state drives can jump almost straight to any piece of data. Tape is therefore poorly suited to work that involves frequent, random reads, and well suited to writing large amounts of data once and reading it only occasionally.
Larger installations often use automated tape libraries. These are cabinets holding many cartridges, with robotic mechanisms that load them into drives on request. Smaller users may have a single drive and handle cartridges by hand. In both cases, a cartridge that has been ejected and stored away uses no power and has no network connection. This is the basis of the “air gap” that the security argument depends on.
Who is affected by the shift towards tape?
The most directly affected groups are organisations that hold large volumes of data: cloud providers, research institutions, media companies, financial firms and public bodies with retention obligations. For them, the cost of storing data over many years is a significant budget line, and tape’s low cost per unit of capacity can make a real difference.
Companies building AI systems are also affected, as the source identifies them as a driver of demand. They need to decide which datasets and model artefacts to keep, for how long, and on what medium.
IT administrators at smaller businesses are affected more indirectly. Tape can make sense for them, but the up-front cost of drives and the need for disciplined procedures can be a barrier. Some may meet tape without knowing it, because cloud archive services can run on tape behind the scenes. Whether a particular provider does so is not always disclosed.
Individual home users are generally the least affected. For personal photos and documents, external drives and consumer cloud services are usually more practical than buying tape equipment.
Where do experts disagree about tape’s future?
Supporters of tape point to its low storage cost, its offline security and its long track record in data centres. They argue that as data volumes grow, a cheap medium for cold data becomes more important, not less.
Sceptics raise several concerns. Retrieval is slow, which matters if an organisation suddenly needs to restore large amounts of data quickly after an incident. Tape also needs careful management: cartridges must be labelled, stored in suitable conditions, tested periodically and moved to newer formats before older drives become hard to obtain. A tape archive that has never been test-restored offers less assurance than it seems to.
There is also debate about whether cloud archive tiers make owning tape unnecessary for many organisations. Cloud services take hardware management off the user’s hands, but they bring ongoing fees, possible retrieval charges and reliance on a third party. Which approach costs less depends heavily on data volume, retention periods and how often data is read back. No single answer fits every case.
Should you consider tape for your own archive?
A practical way to decide is to sort your data by how often it is used. Data you read every day belongs on fast storage. Data you rarely touch but must keep, such as completed projects, compliance records or old datasets, is the category where tape becomes worth considering.
Next, think about volume and retention time. Tape’s cost advantage grows with scale, because the drive is a fixed cost and each extra cartridge is relatively cheap. If you hold only a modest amount of data, the equipment and staff time may outweigh the savings.
Then consider security. If you want a copy of critical data that ransomware cannot reach, an offline tape copy is one established option. Many organisations follow the widely cited 3-2-1 approach: several copies of the data, on more than one type of media, with at least one kept off-site. Tape can meet the media and off-site parts of that approach.
Finally, plan for operations. Write down how cartridges are labelled, where they are stored, who can access them and how often restores are tested. Budget for moving data to newer formats over time. If that is impractical in-house, compare it with cloud archive services or managed providers before committing.
What should readers watch next?
The first thing to watch is whether Fujifilm’s expansion happens as described and on what timetable, since the material available here gives no dates. Announcements from other tape media makers would show whether the expected demand is industry-wide.
A second is pricing. More production capacity could in principle affect cartridge prices, but how it will do so is not known. Organisations planning purchases may want to follow prices rather than assume they will change in a particular direction.
A third is how AI developers handle data retention. If keeping training data and model versions becomes standard practice, or is required by regulation, demand for low-cost archival storage could keep growing. Finally, watch how cloud providers present their archive tiers, as these compete with tape directly and may also rely on it.
Frequently asked questions
Is magnetic tape still used today?
Yes. Magnetic tape is still widely used for backup and long-term archiving, mainly by organisations that hold large amounts of data. It is valued for its low storage cost and because cartridges can be kept offline. Ars Technica reports that Fujifilm plans to increase tape production fivefold in response to archiving demand linked to AI. This suggests tape is still an active market rather than a fading technology.
Why is AI increasing demand for tape storage?
AI work produces and uses very large amounts of data, including training datasets, model versions and logs. Organisations often want to keep this material for auditing, reproducibility or future use, even though they rarely read it. Tape is cheap for storing large volumes of rarely used data, which makes it a sensible option for this kind of archive. Ars Technica identifies AI as a driver of Fujifilm’s production expansion.
Is tape storage safer than cloud storage?
Tape and cloud storage protect data in different ways. A tape cartridge removed from its drive is physically disconnected, so network attackers cannot reach it. Cloud storage is managed by a provider and can be reached from anywhere, which is convenient but means it is connected. Many organisations use both, keeping an offline tape copy as protection against ransomware alongside cloud or disk copies for faster recovery.
What are the disadvantages of tape backup?
The main drawback is slow access. Tape is read in sequence, so finding a specific file can take time, and restoring large amounts of data is slower than from disk. Tape also needs careful handling: correct storage conditions, clear labelling, regular test restores and periodic moves to newer formats. The cost of drives can be a barrier for small users, who may find disk or cloud storage simpler.
Can I use tape backup at home?
You can, but it is rarely practical for personal use. Tape drives are designed mainly for business and data centre users, and the cost of the drive usually only makes sense when storing large amounts of data. For most household needs, such as photos and documents, external hard drives combined with a cloud backup service are cheaper and easier. They still allow you to keep more than one copy in different places.
What is an air gap in data backup?
An air gap means keeping a copy of data on media that has no connection to any network or computer system. Tape is a common way to create one: once a cartridge is written and ejected, it sits on a shelf where remote attackers cannot reach it. Air-gapped copies are used as a last line of defence against ransomware, which can encrypt or delete backups that stay connected.
Sources and further reading
- Ars Technica: technology news report on Fujifilm’s plan to expand magnetic tape production because of AI-related archiving demand.
- Tape media and drive manufacturers: product documentation explaining cartridge formats, handling and storage recommendations.
- The Linear Tape-Open (LTO) format programme: published material on the generations and roadmap of the standard tape format.
- National cyber security agencies: published guidance on backup practices, including offline copies to protect against ransomware.
Surfaced from the rss:arstechnica signal “tape production expansion”. AI-assisted draft, editorially reviewed.
