Starting with LTO-8, changes were made to LTO’s backwards compatibility. Previously, LTO drives could read tapes from two generations back and write to tapes from the previous generation. For instance, an LTO-7 drive could read LTO-7, LTO-6, and LTO-5 tapes, as well as write to LTO-7 and LTO-6 tapes. However, this two-generation backward reading compatibility ceased with LTO-8. An LTO-8 drive can read and write only LTO-8 and LTO-7 tapes, without compatibility for reading LTO-6 tapes. Similarly, an LTO-9 drive can read and write LTO-9 and LTO-8 tapes but cannot read LTO-7 tapes.
- LTO drive generations 1-7 are able to read tapes from two generations prior and are able to write to tapes from the prior generation.
- LTO-8 drives can read and write to LTO-7 and LTO-8 media, including
LTO-7 Type M. - LTO-9 drives can read and write to LTO-8 and LTO-9 media only.
In the table below, we summarise the situation.
| LTO Drive Generation | Can Read | Can Write |
| LTO-1 | LTO 1 | LTO 1 |
| LTO-2 | LTO 2,1 | LTO 2,1 |
| LTO-3 | LTO 3,2,1 | LTO 3,2 |
| LTO-4 | LTO 4,3,2 | LTO 4,3 |
| LTO-5 | LTO 5,4,3 | LTO 5,4 |
| LTO-6 | LTO 6,5,4 | LTO 6,5 |
| LTO-7 | LTO 7,6,5 | LTO 7,6 |
| LTO-8 | LTO 8,7 (including LTO-7 Type M) | LTO 8,7 (including LTO-7 Type M) |
| LTO-9 | LTO 9,8 | LTO 9,8 |
| LTO-10 | TBA | TBA |
LTO Tape – Backwards Compatibility
