IBM i virtual tape

Start of change IBM® i virtual tape provides many enhancements to your system. It provides higher availability, shorter backup times, and additional benefits. The virtual tape images are stored in stream files on your system disk units. End of change

The benefits of virtual tape include the following:

Virtual tape provides improved availability over previous forms of media.
The backup time is quicker.
If additional volumes are needed during a backup, they are automatically created.
Virtual tape supports multiple, simultaneous read operations from the same virtual tape volume.

Virtual tape devices can perform the same tasks as physical tape except they cannot perform the Save Storage (SAVSTG) command.