Effective 2006, IBM discontinued the J1A tape drives. We still have access to some New J1A Tape drives, but in Limited Quantity. IBM only ships now the E05 and E06 tape drives.

IBM 3592 J1A Tape Drive.

J1A is the first Generation Drive that used 3592 tape cartridges with up to 300GB physical capacity (up to 900GB with 3:1 compression), allowing more data to be stored on fewer tapes, which can help reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) as well as floor-space requirements and cartridge handling time. In automated tape systems, the cartridge handling time can translate to improved automation slot utilization.

In addition to increased capacity over earlier enterprise tape drives ( Earlier 3590 and 3590e tape drives), the 3592 provides up to a 40MB/sec native data transfer rate. This improved throughput can help shorten data access time as well as reduce backup and recovery times-enhancing productivity in the data center. By providing faster data access, the 3592 can help address common storage-related issues such as reducing batch windows and the need for high application availability

Compatibility Matrix of 3592 Media with J1A Tape drive

	JJ/JR Economy Fast Access	JA/JW Regular	JB/JX Extended
J1A Capacity Native	60 Gb	300 Gb	No Compatibility
Label Color	Light Blue	Dark Blue	Dark Green

3592 E05 TS1120 Tape Drive

E05 or TS1120 is the Second Generation Tape drive that suppors the JB/JX Extened Length Media too. The TS1120 Tape Drive is designed to provide higher levels of performance, reliability, and cartridge capacity than the IBM TotalStorage Enterprise Tape Drive 3592 Model J1A. A 4 Gb Fibre Channel Switch feature is also available with its integrated support in the IBM TotalStorage 3592 Tape Controller Model J70, the IBM TotalStorage 3953 Library Manager Frame Model F05, and the IBM TotalStorage 3494 Tape Library Model D22.

The TS1120 E05 is designed for automation and uses a tape cartridge with a form factor similar to the 3590 tape cartridges, which allows it to be used in the IBM TotalStorage 3584 and 3494 Tape Libraries, and StorageTek Automated Cartridge System (ACS) solutions. It is also available for installation in a stand-alone rack. TS1120 E05 Tape Drives attached to a 3494 VTS Model B10 or B20 will operate in J1A emulation mode.

The TS1120 E05 is designed to support capacity scaling of JA tape cartridges to 100 GB. Capacity scaling allows the utilized length of tape to be logically shortened, allowing improved data access times in trade-off for reduced capacity. The tapes can subsequently be scaled back to full capacity as needed. Multiple scale settings are supported on the E05 drive including a 100 GB, 20% scaled JA cartridge. Additional enhancements have been made to the TS1120 E05 Tape Drive to help improve availability, performance, and capacity.

Compatibility Matrix of 3592 Media with E05 Tape drive

E05 Drive Capacity	JJ/JR Economy Fast Access	JA/JW Regular	JB/JX Extended
E05 Native	100 Gb	500 GB	700 GB
J1A Emulation Native	60 GB	300 GB	No Compatibility
Label Color	Light Blue	Dark Blue	Dark Green

IBM TS1130 Tape Drive (3592 E06)

The IBM System Storage™ TS1130 Tape Drive E06 features storage capability to help you establish easy access to data, better security, long-term retention and data governance and regulatory compliance. The TS1130 tape drive offers high-performance flexible data storage with support for data encryption. The TS1130 tape drive can help you protect your investments in tape automation by offering compatibility with existing automation. To further protect your investment, an upgrade model is available for your existing IBM System Storage TS1120 Tape Drives. And to support a heterogeneous server environment, the TS1130 offers multiplatform support.

The TS1130 Tape Drive supports IBM System Storage TS3400 and TS3500 Tape Libraries, IBM TotalStorage® 3494 Tape Libraries, IBM racks that enable stand-alone installation, and IBM 3952 Tape Frames Model C20 (3952C20 frame) attached to a Sun 9310 library.

The TS1130 Tape Drive is able to utilize existing IBM 3592 data cartridges at higher levels of capacity and performance. The tape drive uses re-writable or Write Once Read Many (WORM) IBM 3592 cartridges available in three levels of capacity:

Compatibility Matrix of 3592 Media with E06 Tape drive

E06 Drive Capacity	JJ/JR Economy Fast Access	JA/JW Regular	JB/JX Extended
E06 Native	128 GB	640 GB	1 TB
E05 Emulation Native	100 Gb	500 GB	700 GB
J1A Emulation Native	60 GB	300 GB	No Compatibility
Label Color	Light Blue	Dark Blue	Dark Green

IBM 3592 Tape Media.

Part Number	Description
23R9830	3592 Tape Cartridge - Extended Data 700GB
23R9815	3592 Tape Cartridge - Extended Data 700GB w/Color Label
23R9811	3592 Tape Cartridge - Extended Data 700GB w/Color Label & Initialized
23R9831	3592 Tape Cartridge - Extended Data WORM 700GB
23R9823	3592 Tape Cartridge - Extended Data WORM 700GB w/Color Label
23R9819	3592 Tape Cartridge - Extended Data WORM 700GB w/Color Label & Initialized
18P7534	3592 Tape Cartridge - 300GB
18P7538	3592 Tape Cartridge - WORM 300GB
24R0456	3592 Tape Cartridge - WORM 300GB w/Color Label & Initialized
18P9271	3592 Tape Cartridge - 300GB w/Color Label
18P9263	3592 Tape Cartridge - 300GB w/Color Label & Initialized
24R0460	3592 Tape Cartridge - WORM 300GB w/Color Label
24R0316	3592 Tape Cartridge - Economy 60GB Native Capacity
24R0317	3592 Tape Cartridge - Economy 60GB WORM
24R0448	3592 Tape Cartridge - Economy 60GB Native w/Color Label & Initialized
24R0486	3592 Tape Cartridge - Economy 60GB WORM w/Color Label
18P7535	3592 Cleaning Cartridge
18P8792	3592 Cleaning Cartridge w/Bar code Label