Hewlett Packard Enterprise 693417-001 External Tape Drive

The Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) EH958A/B 693417-001 external LTO-5 Ultrium 3000 tape drive delivers scalable, long‑term data protection for enterprise backup and archiving. Built for data centers, server rooms, and backup infrastructures, it supports LTO‑5 media with 1.5 TB native capacity per cartridge and up to 3.0 TB with 2:1 compression, paired with native transfer speeds of about 140 MB/s and up to 280 MB/s when compressed. The drive uses SAS‑2 (6 Gb/s) and external SAS connectivity (SFF‑8088 or equivalent) with a 256 MB buffer and enterprise‑class MTBF. It reads and writes LTO‑5 tapes and can read backward from LTO‑4 media, enabling straightforward media migration. Power input is 100–240 VAC, and the unit is available in an external rack or desktop form factor to fit diverse IT environments. Hardware AES‑256 encryption is supported where available (AES 256‑bit hardware), adding data‑at‑rest protection. Typical applications include backup for virtualization hosts, file and database servers, compliance archives, media preservation, and offsite storage workflows with automated tape rotation to support disaster recovery and long‑term retention.