[BBLISA] Tape drives?

[Nicholas Kathmann]

I've used the Dells, IBMs, and HPs, and here is what I've found with them. 

    * The HP DLT (forgot which version of the DLT) was always broken or
      needed cleaning (within a day after cleaning it).  If I remember
      right, these units usually only lasted about 2 years.
    * The Dell did last the full 3 yrs with only 1 problem.  One of the
      LTO2 drives failed slowing down our backups significantly.  It was
      easy to replace, but we had to deal with Dell's dreaded tech
      support in doing so.  Once the 3 yr point hit, it was almost like
      there was a clock installed that just made items start failing. 
      First another drive failed, then the robotic arm failed rendering
      the unit worthless.
    * The IBMs we've had for the least amount of time (a little over
      2yrs so far), and I haven't had any problems. (LTO3)

I haven't used DLTs since 2000, but didn't like them then.  The LTOs 
have been very fast, reliable, and pretty cheap.  The only problem is 
keeping up with the LTO versions.  When upgrading to the next version of 
the LTO drive, you will probably have to replace all of your LTO media 
since the new drive will be read-only for that LTO version media.

We also do disk-disk-tape, so we have only had to perform restores from 
tape several times.  During the DR test runs, we did have some corrupted 
files off the DLTs (probably due to the constantly dirty heads), but the 
LTOs have all been perfect.

Thanks,
Nick

Scott R Ehrlich wrote:
> I'm pricing tape drives for high reliability.   What vendor and what type do
> more people trust - Quantum or Dell, or someone else?   Also, SDLT or LTO?
> Price is not so much an issue as is reliability.    I aim for rack mount, but
> that isn't so important if a suitable tape drive comes along that simply hangs
> off the server.
>
> Also, what brand/manufacturer tapes have people found most reliable?
>
> This will be for 4 dual-boot (XP and CentOS 5) systems connecting to a PowerEdge
> server.    I'm awaiting details on exactly how much storage we are actually
> going to be dealing with, and if the data will be static or dynamic.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Scott
>
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