The Back-hitching Problem. Conventional tape drives are designed to operate efficiently at a constant tape speed and data transfer rate. However, the host system seldom sends or receives data at a specific fixed rate. This is because data is transmitted in bursts that result in fluctuating transfer rates. Whenever the flow of data is interrupted, the drive must stop the tape, back it up, accelerate it to the appropriate speed, and then continue the data transfer in the same orientation as before. This process, known as back-hitching, reduces the effective data throughput and can add significant wear and tear to both the tape drive and to the tapes. Back-hitching seriously impacts data reliability because these extreme changes in tape direction accelerate wear on the media. In addition, worn tapes increase the rate of head wear and are a source of debris and contamination, decreasing mechanism life. These factors ultimately impact the drive’s ability to restore data.  Conventional Tape’s High Cost.  Conventional tape drive manufacturers have relied on increasingly complex designs to meet increasing performance and capacity requirements. The architecture of tracking tape drives grows more and more complex as capacity (track density) and data transfer rates are increased. They require costly, complex mechanical and electrical components to combat inherent track- to-head alignment problems. While conventional tape devices have kept pace in increasing performance and capacity, they have not delivered to end-users the same historical price reductions users have come to expect in other storage mediums like disk storage. Relatively speaking, tape has become expensive. VXA Packets -- Breakthrough Technology Packet Technology breakthroughs enable VXA to provide far superior data reliability, speed and capacity at a lower cost. VXA is the only production tape technology in the world to approach tape backup in a fundamentally different way than the other track-based designs. VXA Packets Are Fundamentally Better Than Tracks.  VXA reads and writes data in packets, the most reliable and affordable method for transferring data as is witnessed in modern network and Internet technology. The drive also employs a variable speed function that has the ability to match the host data transfer rate, eliminating the back- hitching that causes job delays and wear on the media and drive mechanism. Packet Technology also allows for a more innovative and streamlined design than conventional tracking drives and thus requires fewer and less expensive parts resulting in a lower cost drive and better overall reliability. Packets Alleviate the Head to Tape Alignment Issue. VXA Packet Technology approaches the biggest problem of tape today, head-to-tape alignment, by eliminating the need for it in the first place. VXA has accomplished this by fundamentally changing the way that tape drives write and read data. Instead of using conventional tracks, VXA uses digital packets to write and restore data. To start with, long strings of data are broken into small units of data packets before being recorded on the media. Each data packet includes p1   p2   p3   p4   p5   p6