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Every time I look into tape I find the drives are prohibitively expensive. An LTO-8 drive is US$3000+. Unless you have hundreds of TBs it's not worth it.
by driverdan 3y ago
Every time I look into tape I find the drives are prohibitively expensive. An LTO-8 drive is US$3000+. Unless you have hundreds of TBs it's not worth it.
- CommieBobDole 3y agoThat's because you aren't the target for tape backup - big enterprises with thousands of terabytes of data are. They spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on big automated tape libraries, and it's just a number on a budget spreadsheet.
- driverdan 3y agoI understand that but it's frustrating. The only reason drives are as expensive as they are is due to a lack of competition. There is no way they cost anywhere near $3000 to build.
- Kirby64 3y agoCost to an end user is more than just the actual cost of components. There's a decent amount of vendors that actually make tape drives, so if it truly were much cheaper, someone would undercut to get business. Given these are intended for enterprise usage, there is an expectation of quality, service, and support associated that you ARE paying for with that cost.
- kalleboo 3y ago> There's a decent amount of vendors that actually make tape drives I thought it was only IBM still making drives today
- dmd 3y agoI use tape (LTO-8); I'm backing up ~5PB of medical images, growing by ~15%/year.
- mattbee 3y agoLTO5 tapes store 1600GB. Glancing at ebay, drives seem to be $200, tapes are $30. (+the server with a SAS card in ofc). It's always going to depend on your scale.
- driverdan 3y ago$30 for 1.6TB ($18.75/TB) is not a good price. Hard drives are available for less than that.