What tape drive would you recommend?

[M. Osten]

On Thu, 30 Mar 2000, michael d hoskins wrote:

> How large are your backup needs?
> 
> 4mm - small backups
DDS 3 (mine holds 12 native 24 compressed) and they get bigger the more
money you spend....

> 8mm - med.  backups

Getting hard to find anymore...I've got a 13 gig if anyone is interested.

> DLT - large backups

Very expensive...used when you need to backup terrabytes of data..get out
your wallet.

> 
> (Or 3494 for VERY large systems -- ADSM/Adstar/TSM.)
> 
> 4mm, unfortunately, has issues.  I've seen instances where the tape
> stretched, got stuck in the drive, the drive got misaligned or dirty,
> the drive broke, etc.  I'd really only recommend this for home and SOHO
> use, and only if you can afford down time.  This is NOT a data
> center/enterprise solution at all.  4mm is cheap, and "cheap" is the
> operative word.  Again, at home, it's OK.  I guess any tape backup is
> better than none at all, but the only time you ever need to restore is
> when it's critical....  :-(
> 

I'd have to disagree. *everyone* uses DDS3 drives, I've personally never
had any problems. Its just like everything else, take care of it, and it
will work perfectly.  As far as the tapes stretching, and losing data...I
think that your experience is not the norm.