This Sony SDX3X-150C tape is an AIT-3 tape and has a native capacity of 150 GB and a compressed capacity of 390 GB. The SDX3X-150C uses AME II (Advanced Metal Evaporated 2) which was developed in 2004. In contrast to AME, the magnetic layer is evaporated and then oxidized onto the tape base. This brings out the magnetic layer’s maximum potential by reducing the size of its metal particles. This, in turn, creates a much smoother tape surface and allows the spacing between the magnet head and magnetic layer to be minimized. What this means is that the recording performance and the throughput rate are greatly improved over the previous generation. In fact the native transfer rate for SDX3X-150C is 18 MB/s, 50% greater than AIT-2 tapes transfer rate of 12 MB/s. The SDX3X-150C is an AIT-3Ex tape which means it is compatible with AIT Turbo drives and auto-libraries only, it is not for use with AIT tape drives and autoloaders.