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Can you recommend specific tape drives and/or generations? I have never considered it but you make a good point. Maybe this is the time create a backup of my ir
by exhilaration 5y ago
Can you recommend specific tape drives and/or generations? I have never considered it but you make a good point. Maybe this is the time create a backup of my irreplaceable Google photos collection.
- Karunamon 5y agoReally, it comes down to your budget. LTO drives don't do anything interestingly different across manufacturers, and I've seen no evidence of significant reliability differences either. So, just buy the biggest generation that makes sense for your data storage needs. Two important things to note: 1. LTO5 and onwards have a feature called LTFS, which allows you to address the tape as an ordinary file system. Before that, you were limited to purpose-built tape tools. 2. Generally, tapes can be read in drives 2 generations newer, and written in drives 1 generation newer. This rule was broken with LTO8, due to new tape composition. Starting here, it's 1 generation newer read/write.
- smackeyacky 5y agoFor "purpose built tape tools", tar and dd are fine. tar is a bit easier to restore. If you are running Windows, well, don't run Windows as Microsoft have removed all the built-in tape stuff they used to supply with Windows Server and all the alternatives either cost money or are hideously complicated. Debian + old HPE server + tape drive + tar. Job done.