Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > linux.debian.user > #226132 > unrolled thread

tape drives

Back to article view | Back to linux.debian.user

This discussion starts older than the indexed window; earlier articles aren't shown. The article labeled Started by below is the oldest one visible, not the original post.

Contents

  tape drives mick crane <mick.crane@gmail.com> - 2020-08-12 12:50 +0200
    Re: tape drives Dan Ritter <dsr@randomstring.org> - 2020-08-12 13:00 +0200
      Re: tape drives mick crane <mick.crane@gmail.com> - 2020-08-12 14:20 +0200
    Re: tape drives The Wanderer <wanderer@fastmail.fm> - 2020-08-12 13:00 +0200
      Re: tape drives Dan Ritter <dsr@randomstring.org> - 2020-08-12 13:10 +0200
    Re: tape drives Andy Smith <andy@strugglers.net> - 2020-08-12 23:50 +0200

#226132 — tape drives

Do people use tape drives for backup ?
I saved data to tape before but I think they were DAT and not very big 
but see that these LTO-2 tapes are 600Gb and not expensive.
Do people use those ?

mick

-- 
Key ID    4BFEBB31

[toc] | [next] | [standalone]

#226133

mick crane wrote: 
> Do people use tape drives for backup ?
> I saved data to tape before but I think they were DAT and not very big but
> see that these LTO-2 tapes are 600Gb and not expensive.
> Do people use those ?

Yes.

However, my company has switched over to using disk storage for
backups. The time-cost for retrieving a file or a directory is
much lower, and we do that small recovery much more often than
we need to bring back an entire machine. 

Also note that LTO-2 is 200GB per tape, not 600. Tape
manufacturers have an awful habit of pretending that all data is
compressible, and citing a compressed storage amount instead of
the raw storage amount.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_Tape-Open should be helpful
to you.

-dsr-

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#226137

On 2020-08-12 11:58, Dan Ritter wrote:
<snipped>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_Tape-Open should be helpful
> to you.

cheers
mick

-- 
Key ID    4BFEBB31

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#226134

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

On 2020-08-12 at 06:44, mick crane wrote:

> Do people use tape drives for backup ?
> I saved data to tape before but I think they were DAT and not very big 
> but see that these LTO-2 tapes are 600Gb and not expensive.
> Do people use those ?

Depends on the context you're talking about.

I am given to understand that people do very much still use tape drives
for backup in a server-room / data-center type of context.

However, while I've considered using tapes for backup in my own private
environment, last time I looked the cheapest tape drive with support for
tapes large enough to be reasonable for my hard-drive capacities was
$3000 - and that's just the drive, not the tapes. That rivals - and may
surpass - the build-from-parts cost of my entire computer, which is
already nearly half storage by dollars spent.

It's possible things have changed since then, but I'd be surprised if
tape drives were economical enough to be practical in a non-commercial
environment.

-- 
   The Wanderer

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all
progress depends on the unreasonable man.         -- George Bernard Shaw

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#226135

The Wanderer wrote: 

> However, while I've considered using tapes for backup in my own private
> environment, last time I looked the cheapest tape drive with support for
> tapes large enough to be reasonable for my hard-drive capacities was
> $3000 - and that's just the drive, not the tapes. That rivals - and may
> surpass - the build-from-parts cost of my entire computer, which is
> already nearly half storage by dollars spent.
> 
> It's possible things have changed since then, but I'd be surprised if
> tape drives were economical enough to be practical in a non-commercial
> environment.

New tape drives are expensive because they are only sold to
businesses; used tape drives are cheap because no business wants
to buy them.

That said, even a new tape drive is a finicky beast compared to
a spinning disk; anyone operating them should really have a
spare drive, tested, sitting around and waiting for the primary
one to fail.

-dsr-

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#226150

Hello,

On Wed, Aug 12, 2020 at 11:44:54AM +0100, mick crane wrote:
> Do people use tape drives for backup ?

Only in places that need vast amounts of data stored for a very long
time with restores being rare. Restoration is slow with tapes. Even
a low end LTO drive will set you back thousands of £/$/€.

Most consumers and even most businesses will find it more cost
effective and flexible to backup to HDDs and storage clouds.

Cheers,
Andy

-- 
https://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting

[toc] | [prev] | [standalone]

Back to top | Article view | linux.debian.user

csiph-web