LTO tape stores data for $5 per terabyte — here's why you can't buy it

LTO tape stores data for $5 per terabyte — here's why you can't buy it Credit: The Slow Mo Guys 2 / YouTube By  Oluwademilade Afolabi Published May 31, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT Oluwademilade is a tech enthusiast with over five years of writing experience. He joined the MUO team in 2022 and covers various topics, including consumer tech, iOS, Android, artificial intelligence, hardware, software, and cybersecurity. In addition to writing at MUO, his work has appeared on HowtoGeek , Cryptoknowmics , TechNerdiness , and SlashGear . Oluwademilade attended the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, earning a medical degree from the College of Medicine. Excelling in public service, Oluwademilade was honored with the title of Global Action Ambassador by a student organization affiliated with the United Nations. He received this designation in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in recognition of his efforts to make a positive global impact in 2020 In his free time, Oluwademilade enjoys testing new AI apps and features, troubleshooting tech problems for family and friends, learning new coding languages, and traveling to new places whenever possible. Sign in to your MakeUseOf account Add Us On Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap Right now, you could theoretically archive data for less than the price of a coffee per terabyte on a storage medium that shrugs off ransomware, can sit unpowered for decades, and is trusted behind the scenes by some of the world's largest cloud providers. That technology is LTO (Linear Tape-Open), and although it has been around since 2000, most people have probably never had a reason to think about it. That is not because the format faded into obscurity or was left behind by modern storage. Quite the opposite: LTO tape shipments reached a record 176.5 exabytes