HPE Tape Libraries

The MSL2024 is a fixed 24-slot, 2U library — it does not expand, and when slot count becomes a constraint the drives move forward into a larger chassis rather than being discarded. The MSL3040 starts at 40 slots and scales to 640 across 15 expansion modules in a single 48U rack, supporting up to 48 drives and 28.8 PB of compressed capacity with LTO-9 media. The MSL6480 starts at 80 slots and scales to 560 slots across six expansion modules, supporting up to 42 drives and 25.2 PB. Both modular libraries accept expansion without interrupting active backup jobs, so a team does not need to schedule a maintenance window each time retention requirements grow. Slot licences are not required — the full slot count is available from the point of purchase.

Replacing a library chassis does not mean replacing the drives inside it. LTO-9, LTO-8, and LTO-7 drives from an MSL2024 can be moved directly into an MSL3040 or MSL6480, and drives from an MSL3040 can be reused in an MSL6480 — with no additional licence fees for the transfer. For a team that has already standardised on LTO-9 SAS or Fibre Channel drives, this means the cost of moving to a larger library is the cost of the chassis and expansion modules, not a full hardware refresh. Drives in the MSL3040 and MSL6480 are hot-replaceable, so a failed drive can be swapped without powering down the library or interrupting jobs running on other drives.

Disk and cloud storage remain online and reachable — which means they remain vulnerable. A ransomware attack that compromises administrative credentials can encrypt or delete cloud-hosted archives just as easily as primary storage. Tape removes that exposure entirely: once a cartridge leaves the library and goes into offsite storage, it has no network address, no accessible interface, and no way to be reached remotely. For organisations holding financial records, patient data, or legal archives under multi-year retention obligations, tape also stores data at a lower cost per terabyte than either disk or cloud for data that is rarely accessed. WORM cartridges — supported across LTO-6 through LTO-9 — ensure that once written, the data cannot be altered or deleted, satisfying regulatory requirements that mandate provable immutability rather than just policy-based controls.

Without partitioning, a single tape library appears as one device — every host and every backup application competes for the same slots and drives. Partitioning divides the physical library into independent virtual libraries, each with its own media pool, presented to the host as a separate device. Different business units, compliance regimes, or backup applications can operate in isolation within the same chassis, with no visibility into each other’s data. The MSL2024 supports up to two partitions, sufficient for separating a production backup stream from a DR copy. The MSL3040 supports up to 21 partitions and the MSL6480 up to 20, making both practical for organisations where legal, finance, and operations each require distinct, auditable tape pools without the cost of running separate physical libraries for each.

A backup window that runs overnight has no room for a drive failure to go unresolved until morning. On the MSL2024, drives are hot-replaceable — a failed unit can be swapped without shutting down the library, and the remaining drive continues running jobs in the meantime. The MSL6480 goes further with driver-based data path and control path failover for LTO-7, LTO-8, and LTO-9 Fibre Channel drives: both ports on each drive are active simultaneously, and if a link fails the host driver manages the switchover using the same device name, reservations, and encryption settings — backup software sees no interruption. Dual redundant power supplies are standard on the MSL6480. The MSL3040 does not offer the same path failover capability, but drive additions and expansion module installations are non-disruptive to jobs already running.

A tape cartridge that leaves a building without encryption is readable by anyone who picks it up — which is why encryption needs to work whether or not the team has a dedicated key management infrastructure. All three libraries support AES 256-bit hardware encryption at the drive level on LTO-7, LTO-8, and LTO-9 drives. For teams without a centralised key server, the HPE MSL Encryption Kit handles key management within the library itself, with no external server, additional software, or ongoing licence overhead. For organisations where compliance mandates centralised key control, all three models support KMIP 1.2-compatible key servers, integrating with existing enterprise infrastructure. The MSL3040 and MSL6480 also support multifactor authentication for management access, so a compromised password alone is not sufficient to alter encryption settings or access cartridge inventory.