Cartridge for storing biosample capillary tubes and use in automated data storage systems

A cartridge for storing capillary tubes, comprising:

• an enclosure including a movable door to provide access to inside the enclosure, the enclosure having the same form factor as a data tape cartridge used in an automated tape library;
• a holder disposed in the enclosure and having a plurality of cylindrical holes for receiving a plurality of said capillary tubes, the capillary tubes being configured to house biosamples that are scanned and analyzed by the automated tape library;
• and
• a plurality of memory modules for storing data related to the biosamples, capillary tubes and cartridge, and
• wherein the memory modules comprise a nonvolatile memory selected from the group consisting of electrically-erasable programmable read-only memory, phase-change memory, flash memory, NOR memory, and NAND memory.

An analytical system comprising:

• an automated tape library;
• a cartridge comprising an enclosure having a holder inside the enclosure and a movable door to provide access to the holder, the enclosure having the same form factor as a data tape cartridge used in the automated tape library, the holder comprising a plurality of cylindrical holes for receiving a plurality of capillary tubes, and the capillary tubes being configured to house biosamples that are scanned and analyzed by the automated tape library;
• and
• one or more memory modules disposed in the enclosure, each memory module being configured to store data relating to the biosamples, the capillary tubes, and the cartridge, wherein at least one of the one or more memory modules comprises a nonvolatile memory.

An analytical system comprising:

• a tape drive;
• a cartridge comprising an enclosure having a holder inside the enclosure and a movable door to provide access to the holder, the enclosure having the same form factor as a data tape cartridge used in the tape drive, the holder comprising a plurality of cylindrical holes for receiving a plurality of capillary tubes, and the capillary tubes being configured to house biosamples that are scanned and analyzed by the tape drive;
• and
• at least one memory module disposed in the enclosure, the at least one memory module comprising a nonvolatile memory selected from a group consisting of electrically-eraseable programmable read-only memory, phase change memory, flash memory, NOR memory and NAND memory.