[aclug-L] Re: SCSI tape drive recommendation

[John Goerzen <jgoerzen@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ryan Claycamp <claycamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

> I tried to send this yesterday afternoon, but it bounced.  I will try
> again and hope it gets through.

If you could, please forward a copy of the bounce notice to me so.
Thanks.

> My company needs a SCSI tape drive, since our old one died.  It should
> store at least 10 GB, although our server space might grow soon.  Does
> anyone have some suggestions for a good SCSI tape drive?  The server is
> running Linux.  I am assuming that this is the best way to backup data. 
> Is it?

I have an Exabyte 8700LT drive that I am very happy with.  It uses
either 5 or 7 gb native (10 or 14gb compressed) tapes, and I think it
would fit the bill.  It's cheap because it comes without software --
Linux already has software.  It is SCSI so you'll need a SCSI card.

Tape backup may or may not be the best solution for you, depending on
your needs.  The advantage of tape -- at least the *good* tape -- is
that the tapes are cheap.  For instance, a 10 gig tape for this drive
costs about $6.  This makes them good for a lot of backup uses and
makes it economical to archive data as well.  Further, they are very
reliable and technologies like Exabyte 8mm or the 4mm DAT drives have
excellent track-records.  (AVOID QIC drives, Ditto drives, etc.)

The downsides are that tape drives are slow compared to hard drives,
and if you frequently need to restore a file or two from a backup, it
can take awhile as the drive has to wind the tape to the location of
the file.  The other downside is that tapes can only be read on other
drives using the same kind of tape -- they're not commonplace like
cd-rom drives.  On the other hand, a CD-R can only hold 650MB of data.



> 
> Ryan
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> 
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-- 
John Goerzen   Linux, Unix consulting & programming   jgoerzen@xxxxxxxxxxxx |
Developer, Debian GNU/Linux (Free powerful OS upgrade)       www.debian.org |
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