Although the initialization of LTO-9 media occurs only once, it can be quite time consuming. The process typically takes between 40 and 60 minutes, but can take up to 2 hours. To enable customers to immediately use their LTO-9 cartridges, Spectra Logic provides LTO-9 Certified Media, which is pre-initialized during the certification process. When users receive Spectra Certified Media, no initialization of the new cartridge is necessary. The optimization process is performed in the most optimal range of temperature and humidity in the Spectra Logic manufacturing facility which ensures that they are optimized as precisely as possible and therefore able to be used in any environment within the operational specification for LTO-9 drives and media.

Spectra LTO-9 Certified Media can save hundreds or even thousands of hours of drive usage for customers. With Spectra LTO-9 Certified Media, customers can begin reading and writing data immediately instead of initializing new cartridges. It also means that the host software that is used with the tape library will not experience any delays or timeouts due to the extended initialization time needed on new LTO-9 tapes if they are purchased from Spectra Logic. Spectra Logic LTO-9 Certified Media also comes with all of the other benefits provided by the certification process including cleaning every tape, verify the read/write performance and capacity of every tape, enabling full Media Lifecycle Management functionality, and providing a lifetime warranty on every certified tape sold.