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

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Mon, 2006-06-19 at 11:21 -0400, Damien McKenna wrote:
> According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_Tape- 
> Open) the "Ultrium" name is not a HP thing but rather a branding on  
> the original entry-level LTO-1 to separate it from a two-reel LTO-1- 
> based sibling dubbed "Accelis".  As a result it is technically  
> accurate to use Ultrium as a synonym for LTO.

It's actually both.  It's both a branding but also a differential from
Accelis, also a brand name as well.  There are some trademark issues
with its use, whereas LTO is the defacto generic standard term.

In other words, if you don't notice it in _many_ of my posts, I don't
like to use "brand names" to describe technology, but the generic
technology terms when applicable or appropriate.  ;->

> We got one for about $1699 from CDW fairly recently, I didn't think  
> of double-checking for the latest prices at the time, but I'm not  
> going to fuss now.  $45 seems to be the norm for LTO-2 tapes too,  
> several of the big name stores have them at that price.

My last major install of LTO was mid-2005 (at Boeing).  Since then most
of my clients have either had their own facilities (often outsourced to
CSC, IBM or similar), or were just ... well ... "not of keen
foresight."  ;->

> We back up about 70gb off the server that the LTO-2 drive is on and  
> have another ~50gb from around the network to backup.  Given that the  
> file server doesn't have enough space for a local backup of  
> everything (a RAID-5 with only space enough in the server for one  
> more SCSI drive, and IDE is physically out of the question), what do  
> you suggest for improving this?

Throw in a 3Ware card and a few drives -- or go external U320 SCSI
subsystem if you need to.  Your tape stream should be sustained to
maximum and not bumping up against windows or limited by network
throughput.


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