Question Generic backup storage solution - looking for data

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cgilley

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Dec 10, 2003
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I'm archiving a bunch of projects that will go off into my safety deposit box - figure 10TB or more of data. Since these projects will retire soon - we can call it long term storage, but I've learned in the past 30 years of consulting, no product ever really retires.

Doing my research over the last few days has piqued my curiosity into looking for real data. Not specs, not guarantees, real data. I know google published something quite some time ago regarding their disk failure rates. I'm a huge believer in SSD over spinners, but I've learned that if you don't plug in the SSD from time to time, the data goes stale. As a parallel, I also read that spinners need to be spun up from time to time to oil their bearings. So, as I type this, I glance over to a 1/2 dozen 128GB and 256GB thumb drives, and it made me wonder how long data on that would last?

I'm just looking for some reputable links if you have them. I've been reading here on the pros and cons of different tech. It seems that everything fails. Case in point: there seems to be a strong argument that tape backups have far longer longevity than anything else. So, after gotten accustomed to grabbing a 1TB USB SSD drive for cheap, I was taken back by the prices. That's fine. Then I started wondering - I probably need to buy 2 tape units - one for emergency reserve should people stop making them... and down the overthinking tidy bowl hole I went. :)

Interestingly, I have only had one hard drive failure in 25+ years (spinner). My SSDs are thundering along (and I beat the hell out of them). I have thumb drives that I am fondly attached too, and they too have never failed.

So, don't want to start a debate about what tech is best, but I would like to read some articles that dive deep into the subject. Heck, maybe I'll write some code and pound on my USB drive for a few years...
 
C

cgilley

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Dec 10, 2003
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USAF, yes, I read many of your posts. Great sig. pic btw. I don't recognize the missile - too small for a cruise, and it's not a Hellfire....

Anyway, I was looking for references to actual data. I'll keep looking.
 
USAFRet

USAFRet

Titan
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Mar 16, 2013
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cgilley said:
USAF, yes, I read many of your posts. Great sig. pic btw. I don't recognize the missile - too small for a cruise, and it's not a Hellfire....

Anyway, I was looking for references to actual data. I'll keep looking.
Click to expand...
I believe it is a GBU-53 (Small Diameter Bomb II)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GBU-53/B_StormBreaker


"long term data storage" in google leads to lots of articles.
But there is no singular 'best'.

Differences in needs and conditions may tip the scales to one method vs another.

But they ALL lead back to "multiple copies, on multiple media"
 
M

Misgar

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Mar 2, 2023
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cgilley said:
there seems to be a strong argument that tape backups have far longer longevity than anything else...... I was taken back by the prices.
Click to expand...
Prices can be very high for recent spec, brand new (modern) drives, i.e. LTO-8 and LTO-9, but if you're prepared to consider second hand, older spec drives can be more affordable.

Back in 2018 I bought a couple of external Quantum LTO-4 SAS drives ($100 each) and a full height LTO-4 internal drive ($30). Tapes were cheap too, but are only 800GB (native format) and you can't write individual files direct to tape from Windows (no LTFS), requiring compatible backup software instead.

SAS controller cards were circa $25 second hand. My more important machines have LSI SAS cards with an external port for tape drives. SAS cables are $15 to $20 if you look carefully.

These days I'd consider LTO-5 (1.5TB) or LTO-6 (2.5TB). I don't bother with compression. I find the supposed 1.6GB capacity of LTO-4 with 2:1 compression is not attainable, because most of my files are already heavily compressed.

Your computer needs to stream data continuously to tape at the rate demanded by the drive. In the case of my LTO-4, that's 80 Megabytes/second. The transfer rates for LTO-5 and LTO-6 are higher.

Even when the data source is M.2 NVMe, large numbers of files smaller than 10MB each cause "shoe shining", as Windows searches for the next file, the buffer in the drive empties and the tape stops, rewinds slightly and restarts. When I have large numbers of very small files to backup to tape, I zip them first into one big archive.

In theory, LTO tapes have a supposed life expectancy of up to 30 years. Problem is, there might not be any compatible working drives in 2054. Best bet is to copy data to new (current) media every few years.
https://www.ironmountain.com/resour...isk-vs-tape-which-ones-game-for-the-long-term

You might also consider archive quality optical discs (M-disc?) but again opinions and results vary. I used to backup to 25GB Blu-ray, before switching to LTO.
https://www.networkworld.com/articl...disks-the-top-choice-for-archive-storage.html

Spread the risk and keep multiple copies on different media. How big is your safety deposit box?
 
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