myLTO offers several different verification options; here is a breakdown of those choices:

  • LTO Built-in CRC - this verification option actually happens on the tape, not in the application. Basically, the tape offers superior end-to-end data integrity compared to HDD-based systems in archival applications. The end-to-end data integrity is implemented by CRC protected Host records, and by the tape drive doing a read-while-write verification of the actual written data, using a combination of CRC checks and two-layer ECC (Error Correction Codes) protection based on spatial interleaving. This is the fastest verification option and the default in PreRoll Post for Mactintosh.
  • XXHash Algorithms - These algorithms are generally the fastest verification checksum. The XXHash family of algorithms are all non-cryptographic hash algorithms working at speeds close to RAM limits. Non-cryptographic functions try to avoid collisions for non malicious input, and are typically much faster as a result. 
  • MD5 was considered the standard for years before XXHash-64 arrived. Although MD5 is significantly slower than all 3 XXHash algorithms, it is still a very viable option and many industry professionals are very familiar with it. If you’re looking for specifics on XXHash performance metrics against other formats such as MD5, you can find this information on their Github repository using the link in the description. 
  • The SHA checksums are generally used to keep continuity in workflows. They are rigorous checksums but are outdated when compared to XXHash-64 because SHA versions of checksums are generally slower than most other verification methods.


More information on checksums: