>Rule of thumb: you don't need old tapes, you may need old data. >In my former life I had 20 years old data, but the tapes were approx. >2-3 years old (max.). And always replicated, always in two locations. >For old media (tapes, optical, hdd's, whatever) the earlier you start >reading them the better chances you have.
The only problem with this rule is that generations of customer management need to understand the rule and why it exists. This "understanding" is not always present. The Overland drive I mentioned needed manual loading. A little slow, but the data problems were usually not at the beginning of a tape. Bill ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
