HP BC042A StoreEver LTO-9 Ultrium Tape Drive, External, 45TB Capacity

The HPE StoreEver LTO-9 Ultrium (BC042A) external tape drive addresses the growing demand for high-capacity, secure, offline data archiving in enterprise environments. Each LTO-9 cartridge stores up to 18TB natively or 45TB with compression, representing a significant density increase over previous LTO generations and enabling organizations to archive massive datasets with fewer cartridges and less physical shelf space. The drive transfers data at up to 300 MB/s, ensuring that even large backup jobs can complete within standard enterprise maintenance windows. Built-in AES 256-bit hardware encryption protects sensitive data at rest without imposing any performance penalty on read or write operations.

As an external unit with a SAS interface, the BC042A offers deployment flexibility — it can be connected to any server equipped with a SAS HBA without consuming internal drive bays. LTFS support is a significant usability advantage, presenting the tape cartridge as a mountable file system that allows straightforward drag-and-drop file management, eliminating the need for proprietary backup software for basic archival workflows. For organizations dealing with regulatory compliance, disaster recovery planning, or air-gapped data protection strategies, the LTO-9 format's proven longevity — with an estimated archival life of 30 years — makes this drive a cornerstone of a reliable, cost-effective long-term storage infrastructure.