> Tapes *are* reliable, but most people don't change them often enough > (or monitor the backup process). >
I had over 40 DLT-IV tapes for my 2 HP DLT-IV SCSI Tape Drives. I would replace them each 12 months whether they needed it or not. And once each month I would run an HP branded tape head cleaner in each drive. I never had a problem retrieving files from tape, other than the challenge of "quickly" finding the file(s) via the tape software catalog to begin with. Each morning I had a tape swap ritual, and had a log of which tapes I removed, which went back in, any errors, etc. What a PITA, but one I was willing to deal with until I decided USB HDD units were starting to becme more popular with increasing capacities and lower price point. So, in a short period of time I retired the DLT-IV drives, and cut everything to disk-to-disk. I have never looked back (but I still have the DLT-IV drives and tapes <g>). Gil > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Paul Hill > Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 3:38 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [NF] Backups Backups Backups > > > On 3/21/07, John Weller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I actually worked out for a client that it was cheaper to use > laptop size > > HDD in a caddy then the equivalent no of tapes. The big saving was no > > expensive tape drive and backup software. They are easier to > restore from > > and to check, quicker to find a single file and much, much easier for a > > layman to use and check. As for reliability - well, modern HDD are much > > more reliable than tape! I'll never use tape again. (I seem > to remember a > > thread on this a while back). > > The advantage of tape is that you can stick them in a safe someplace > so if you need to restore a file from 5 years ago you can do. I used > to work on 25 tapes per year, per server. > > Tapes *are* reliable, but most people don't change them often enough > (or monitor the backup process). > > -- > Paul > > [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
