[Pc_Support] Re: Tape drive for small file server .... -- LTO-2 has come down from 2005

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Sat, 2006-06-17 at 12:47 -0500, William A. Mahaffey III wrote:
> I work out of the house, so work. This box *is* the 'near-line' backup
> box for others on the network, as well as providing HDD work space. I
> want a tape backup (weekly or so) just for disaster recovery, will
> keep the tapes offsite. The clutch point is I want *offsite* storage.

So you already do near-line storage to disk, and now you just want
off-line storage to tape.  Excellent!

> I do backup over my LAN, but at ~4:00 A.M., so no system activity
> anywhere. Then I want to store those backups & other stuff offsite.

But the backup is a diff and to near-line disk, not directly to tape,
correct?  You now just want to send that near-line disk copy to off-list
tape, correct?

If so, that's an excellent strategy.

> Thanks, I have no legacy equipment to speak of, so the LTO sounds
> good. I *think* I saw a LTO-2 on NewEgg yesterday for ~$775.00, I
> might be mis-remembering, but it looked like a good solution.

I actually don't see _any_ LTO on NewEgg.  Maybe I'm looking in the
wrong section though.  Hold on ... Stupid NewEgg!  They don't put "LTO"
-- they _only_ put "brand names" like "Ultrium."  Sigh.

Wow!  LTO-2 has indeed come downin price!  $1,599 for this Quantum LTO-2
(200GB/40MBps, 480GB/92MBps at 2.4:1) at NewEgg.COM:  
  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16840113023  

And here are 2 other, external Quantum LTO-2 options ...
  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16840113027  
  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16840113026  

And here's the external Quantum LTO-3 for $3,499:  
  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16840113033  

They only see Quantum.  Hmmm, Froogle might give you more options.
Froogle is showing several IBM LTO-2 drives for $25-150 more.  That's an
option if you like the IBM name instead of Quantum.

So it seems $1,600-1,750 is _now_ the LTO-2 price-point.  LTO-1 has only
dropped to $750-800, so it seems that LTO-2 is probably the better move
now.  LTO-1 is definitely no longer the popular entry-point, it's giving
way to LTO-2.

Sorry, I guess the last time I priced LTO-1 and LTO-2 was mid-2005.
LTO-2 was still typically over $3,500 then, while LTO-1 had just dropped
to $1,000.

LTO-3 has dropped from $4,500 to almost $3,000 now as well.  So it's
virtually a linear relationship -- over $750 to over $1,500 to ovre
$3,000 for LTO-1, 2 and 3.  The larger capacity you can afford, the
faster the DTR, so the better it is -- as long as you can feed it.

If you go LTO-2, make sure you can give it a _sustained_ 100MBps DTR
storage array!  Otherwise you'll add unnecessary time and wear (although
LTO claims it dynamically slows the linear tape speed when the feed DTR
is constrained).

Cartridge prices haven't dropped though.  LTO-1 is $20+, LTO-2 is $45+
and LTO-3 is $90+.  But if LTO-2 is becoming more popular as a drive,
LTO-2 cartridges might drop to $30+ in the next year or so.

-- 
Bryan J. Smith           Professional, technical annoyance
mailto:b.j.smith at ieee.org     http://thebs413.blogspot.com
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