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My point is that tape isn't dead, that it's still a viable way to store large amounts of data, like a full OS install with lots of ports to go along with it.
by cbd1984 12y ago
My point is that tape isn't dead, that it's still a viable way to store large amounts of data, like a full OS install with lots of ports to go along with it.
- kjs3 12y agoYou're not wrong, per se, but be aware that the sweet spot for tape storage has skewed to 100's of TB through PB range. Last time I checked, the smallest tape drive you could buy as new production is 1.6TB and costs more than $1k. So...tape is definitely not dead, it's just not something that makes a lot of sense for installing an OS any more, relative to a US$10 USB stick, $.25 DVD or $50 external 500GB hard drive. And, anecdotally, the number of "hobbyist" tape users for other than bulk backups seems to have dropped from "some" 20 years ago to "LOL you use tape LOL" today. Insert standard disclaimer about it being open source and if someone wanted to resurrect tape install more power to them, etc.