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You don't even need the absolute latest drives to get reasonable storage volumes. Some careful shopping can net you an LTO-5 (1.5TB native capacity) library uni

You don't even need the absolute latest drives to get reasonable storage volumes. Some careful shopping can net you an LTO-5 (1.5TB native capacity) library unit (one that can be upgraded to newer generations) for under $500, with new tapes $10-15 each. The nice thing about LTO as a format is its relative predictability and ease of acquiring the parts, even the very obsolete ones. It's all SCSI or SAS, most of the interesting stuff happens at the hardware level, with a bog-standard API. Your average backup app, whether it be Backup Exec or mtx/tar/etc. on Linux doesn't need to care about the media format. Unlike actual "enterprise" shops with datacenters and support contracts and such cruft, where the primary concern is "does it work", it is fine to buy older units second-hand. They are plentiful and cheap.

gruez 6y ago
> You don't even need the absolute latest drives to get reasonable storage volumes. Some careful shopping can net you an LTO-5 (1.5TB native capacity) library unit (one that can be upgraded to newer generations) for under $500, with new tapes $10-15 each. That's still... pretty terrible. If we compare you costs for a tape drive against a 14TB easystore @ $190[1], the break-even point is around 72TB. I don't know about you, but that's of data you have to store for it to be worth it. Even at 150TB you're only looking at around ~25% (~$500) in savings compared to hard drive, which I don't think is much when you factor in how much of a hassle tape drives are to work with. [1] https://slickdeals.net/f/14587381-14tb-wd-easystore-external-usb-3-0-hard-drive-190-free-s-h https://slickdeals.net/f/14587381-14tb-wd-easystore-external... [2] https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=solve+y+%3D+500+%2B+%28x%2F1.5%29*10%2C+y+%3D+x%2F14*190 https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=solve+y+%3D+500+%2B+%2...
- Karunamon 6y ago
  It's not a fair comparison to put up hard drives (integrated mechanics) against tape drives (seprated mechanics). They do not solve the same problem and have different longevity profiles. If I'm spending $500 on tape storage, it's because I want something that will last a long time, something that portable hard drives tend to have issues with. LTO5 onward supports LTFS, which exposes the tape to the OS as if it were any other removable storage, with the one proviso that deleting files doesn't reclaim space unless the entire tape is wiped.
  - seg_lol 6y ago
    LTFS is ok, a multilevel tar file with a file list followed by an FEC encoded block store would be easier and more portable. It has been 8+ years since I played with LTFS, so maybe it has improved.
    - Karunamon 6y ago
      LTFS as of today is supported in FUSE, which realistically means it works on every OS that matters.

gruez 6y ago

> You don't even need the absolute latest drives to get reasonable storage volumes. Some careful shopping can net you an LTO-5 (1.5TB native capacity) library unit (one that can be upgraded to newer generations) for under $500, with new tapes $10-15 each. That's still... pretty terrible. If we compare you costs for a tape drive against a 14TB easystore @ $190[1], the break-even point is around 72TB. I don't know about you, but that's of data you have to store for it to be worth it. Even at 150TB you're only looking at around ~25% (~$500) in savings compared to hard drive, which I don't think is much when you factor in how much of a hassle tape drives are to work with. [1] https://slickdeals.net/f/14587381-14tb-wd-easystore-external-usb-3-0-hard-drive-190-free-s-h https://slickdeals.net/f/14587381-14tb-wd-easystore-external... [2] https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=solve+y+%3D+500+%2B+%28x%2F1.5%29*10%2C+y+%3D+x%2F14*190 https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=solve+y+%3D+500+%2B+%2...

Karunamon 6y ago
It's not a fair comparison to put up hard drives (integrated mechanics) against tape drives (seprated mechanics). They do not solve the same problem and have different longevity profiles. If I'm spending $500 on tape storage, it's because I want something that will last a long time, something that portable hard drives tend to have issues with. LTO5 onward supports LTFS, which exposes the tape to the OS as if it were any other removable storage, with the one proviso that deleting files doesn't reclaim space unless the entire tape is wiped.
- seg_lol 6y ago
  LTFS is ok, a multilevel tar file with a file list followed by an FEC encoded block store would be easier and more portable. It has been 8+ years since I played with LTFS, so maybe it has improved.
  - Karunamon 6y ago
    LTFS as of today is supported in FUSE, which realistically means it works on every OS that matters.