Recently I had some confusion with a client over what tape should be inserted into which tape drive and their capacity. The colour of the tape however is what was easily determined and helped resolve the issue quickly. I figured I’d post this for others in case they need it. This table is accurate for HP LTO tapes – but other vendors use different colours.
| LTO | Size | Colour |
| 1 | 100GB / 200GB | Blue |
| 2 | 200GB / 400GB | Dark Red |
| 3 | 400GB / 800GB | Yellow |
| 4 | 800GB / 1600GB | Green |
| 5 | 1600GB / 3200GB | Light Blue |
| Cleaning Cartridge | NA | Orange |
Wikipedia has a table which has other manufacturers LTO tape cartridges and their colours here
Leave a Reply