Michael C. Robinson 100 gigabyte hard disk is less than $200 while the last check on high capacity tape drives turned up prices exceeding 4 times that for maybe a quarter the capacity because advertised tape capacity is compressed capacity. Worse, tapes don't last, they have a three year shelf life if they are stored properly and the tape doesn't physically break when it winds around the spools...
Is it possible to configure Amanda to backup to a harddisk or Raid volume instead of a tape? What about CD-R, it's the cheapest media and it has a thirty year shelf life where the only downsides are the capacity, the risk of disks getting scratched, the fact that they are made using mercury, and the risk of them getting exposed to UV light. I'm asking about the issue because the recommended book to read on Amanda suggests that Amanda doesn't offer an alternative to tape backup. My last search on tape drives suggested that a high capacity unit that can handle 40 gigs per tape is between $800 and $1000. I could buy a lot of ATA hard drives for that kinda cash.
