{"slug": "ltfs", "name": "LTFS", "category": "files", "category_name": "Files, sync and backup", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 4, "warners": 0, "score": 2.794, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2025-11-27", "latest": "2026-05-11", "why": "you can very easily mount LTO tapes like any other drive using LTFS", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "you can very easily mount LTO tapes like any other drive using LTFS", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/lineartapefilesystem/ltfs", "official_url": "https://github.com/LinearTapeFileSystem/ltfs", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["LTFS"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 758636544, "item_id": 47414784, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47414784", "by": "Fnoord", "date": "2026-03-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Standardization [1] for backups.", "excerpt": "Standardization [1] for backups. A tape with 2.5 TB (uncompressed) goes for 30 EUR. The LTO-6 (affordable current iteration) drive itself goes for 300-500 EUR if you buy it second hand. Cheaper if you grab one without casing and FC, but you'd need a FC switch and a FC HBA. I went for a SAS HBA instead, although since I already for fiber through the whole house, FC would've been suffice. [1] https://github.com/LinearT", "context": "", "use_case": "tape backups", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Love FreeBSD"}, {"id": 753346128, "item_id": 47084133, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47084133", "by": "tombert", "date": "2026-02-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "you can very easily mount LTO tapes like any other drive using LTFS", "excerpt": "If you need tons of storage, I actually do think you should check out LTO. You can buy LTO-6 tapes for about $10 if you get a bunch at a time, and each is about a 2.5TB. On a good day you can find external SAS LTO-6 drives for about $200. LTO tapes are generally rated for decades of use so they\u2019re pretty durable. Nowadays on Linux you can very easily mount LTO tapes like any other drive using LTFS, so you don\u2019t have ", "context": "", "use_case": "mounting LTO tape storage", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft's new 10k-year data storage medium: glass"}, {"id": 737094816, "item_id": 46068426, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46068426", "by": "mm0lqf", "date": "2025-11-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "you will want LTFS support", "excerpt": "Tape drives are generally SAS so you will need a controller card I've got a HP StorageWorks Ultrium 3000 drive (It's LTO-5 format) connected to one (LSI SAS SAS9300-4i), in my NAS/file server (HP Z420 workstation chassis). Don't go lower than LTO-5 as you will want LTFS support. About \u00a3150 all in for the card and drive (including SFF-8643 to SFF-8482 cables etc..) on EBay Tapes are 1.5TB uncompressed, and about \u00a310/e", "context": "", "use_case": "Tape file system", "switched_from": "", "story": "DIY NAS: 2026 Edition"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["tape file system", "tape backups", "mounting lto tape storage"], "compared": [], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48085821", "title": "Local AI needs to be the norm", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47397574", "title": "I Love FreeBSD", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47083512", "title": "Microsoft's new 10k-year data storage medium: glass", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46065034", "title": "DIY NAS: 2026 Edition", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 1}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 769472112, "item_id": 48092007, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48092007", "by": "cyberax", "date": "2026-05-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I asked a local model to rewrite LTFS", "excerpt": "I'm playing with a tape drive for backups, so I asked a local model to rewrite LTFS ( https://github.com/LinearTapeFileSystem/ltfs ) in Go. I gave it the reference C implementation, the LTFS spec from SNIA, and asked it to use the C implementation to verify the correctness of the Go code. LTFS is a pretty straightforward spec, so it made a very reasonable port within about 2 days. It's now working on implementing the", "context": "", "use_case": "tape file system", "switched_from": "", "story": "Local AI needs to be the norm"}, {"id": 758636544, "item_id": 47414784, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47414784", "by": "Fnoord", "date": "2026-03-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Standardization [1] for backups.", "excerpt": "Standardization [1] for backups. A tape with 2.5 TB (uncompressed) goes for 30 EUR. The LTO-6 (affordable current iteration) drive itself goes for 300-500 EUR if you buy it second hand. Cheaper if you grab one without casing and FC, but you'd need a FC switch and a FC HBA. I went for a SAS HBA instead, although since I already for fiber through the whole house, FC would've been suffice. [1] https://github.com/LinearT", "context": "", "use_case": "tape backups", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Love FreeBSD"}, {"id": 753346128, "item_id": 47084133, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47084133", "by": "tombert", "date": "2026-02-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "you can very easily mount LTO tapes like any other drive using LTFS", "excerpt": "If you need tons of storage, I actually do think you should check out LTO. You can buy LTO-6 tapes for about $10 if you get a bunch at a time, and each is about a 2.5TB. On a good day you can find external SAS LTO-6 drives for about $200. LTO tapes are generally rated for decades of use so they\u2019re pretty durable. Nowadays on Linux you can very easily mount LTO tapes like any other drive using LTFS, so you don\u2019t have ", "context": "", "use_case": "mounting LTO tape storage", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft's new 10k-year data storage medium: glass"}, {"id": 737094816, "item_id": 46068426, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46068426", "by": "mm0lqf", "date": "2025-11-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "you will want LTFS support", "excerpt": "Tape drives are generally SAS so you will need a controller card I've got a HP StorageWorks Ultrium 3000 drive (It's LTO-5 format) connected to one (LSI SAS SAS9300-4i), in my NAS/file server (HP Z420 workstation chassis). Don't go lower than LTO-5 as you will want LTFS support. About \u00a3150 all in for the card and drive (including SFF-8643 to SFF-8482 cables etc..) on EBay Tapes are 1.5TB uncompressed, and about \u00a310/e", "context": "", "use_case": "Tape file system", "switched_from": "", "story": "DIY NAS: 2026 Edition"}]}