[SOLVED] Is there a High Capacity Tape Drive under $500 ?

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knowledge2121

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Sep 5, 2013
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I could buy an LTO-5 drive for $200 + 5 Ultrium 5 tapes(3TB per tape) which costs $300 =$500

The alternative is a Seagate Exos x16 16TB ...

Which one of these options offers better durability/reliability ?
 
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Solution
USAFRet
knowledge2121 said:
Is there a guide on how to correctly store an HDD ?
Click to expand...
Cool, dry, where it won't get knocked around.

Antistatic bag, in a box, in a desk drawer.

But do NOT depend on any single storage device to still work after X years of never being touched.
Data needs to exist in multiple places and devices.
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the tape drive is not a good choice for data you may wish to access somewhat regularly. they are more for long term, probably never gonna need it again, type use.

if you plan on actually using the data, then hdd's is the better way to go. one or 2 large ones or multiple smaller ones in a NAS type config.
 
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knowledge2121 said:
Tapes don't die like HDDs do ?
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haha....

"retrieve the data from the tape "

How often would this tape be updated?
Stored where?


Sure, you can use tape as one leg of the situation if you want.

3-2-1
3 copies, on 2 different media, 1 offsite.
Some or all updated and checked routinely.

Not "either HDD or tape".
Both, maybe.

But you can't just take a snapshot as it is today, and store it away for years, in the hopes that 5 years from now it will be fine.
 
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knowledge2121 said:
Tapes don't die like HDDs do ?

My Data is not growing and I want to keep two copies of the data...one on an HDD for everyday use and the other one on the tape so if anything goes wrong with the HDD, I could retrieve the data from the tape...
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A hard drive that is disconnected and correctly stored can last a very long time and does not need a certain type of tape drive to read the data off of it (which can fail). If you are simply looking at archiving the data and are not using it as a backup system then this might be the most sensible and problem free long term solution for your needs.
 
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knowledge2121 said:
I have not paid any attention to the quick start guide...If you plug in the USB cable first and then the power, will there be any data corruption ?
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Probably not,

But if the manufacturer, with all their engineering knowledge and the fact that they're the ones who designed the drive, said that you shouldn't do it? I think it's in your best interest to comply.
 
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knowledge2121 said:
I have not paid any attention to the quick start guide...If you plug in the USB cable first and then the power, will there be any data corruption ?
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It's likely that the drive itself won't be recognized as being there but the enclose hardware will. The USB-Sata interface (bridge) will power up nearly instantly but the drive itself still needs a second or two before it reports that it is there to the bridge, much like it does reporting itself to your bios.
 
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knowledge2121 said:
I could buy an LTO-5 drive for $200 + 5 Ultrium 5 tapes(3TB per tape) which costs $300 =$500

The alternative is a Seagate Exos x16 16TB ...

Which one of these options offers better durability/reliability ?
Click to expand...
heres a cheaper archival solution, plus you have to play back tape and I dont think it allows random access like these do.
For cold storage archives, check out verbatim Blu ray m-discs. They go up to 100 gbs. B and h photo has the best prices but it's on backorder and you have to wait a few days to order because they are observing a holiday. I just backordered some from b and h and they came in stock like a week or 2 after and they shipped immediately. You can get a reader/writer for the discs for around 60(internal) and you can get casing for the internal drives to make them external for 50ish. Get the discs from b and h(best prices on bdxl 100 gb m-discs) and the drive from somewhere else (the blu ray drives are cheaper on Newegg/amazon ect). I use the wh16ns40 and the wh14ns40 both work fine for bdxl m discs and have no issues with the multi layer stuff. I use cdburner xp which is a free program but there are other programs. DO NOT BURN THEM IN WINDOWS/FILE EXPLORER WITH NO SOFTWARE WINDOWS WILL NOT FILAAZE DISCS SO IT WILL BE AN INDEFINITLY OPEN DISC THATS NOT UDF. But make sure to get the m discs, not some garbage blu rays that will get bitrot in 2 years. M- disc Blu rays are meant for lifetime archival(estimated lifespan of a few hundred years, military govt has done some torture testing on it), so in theory as long as you have a device to read them your data will be good until you die. But they are not rewritable and I would just finalize on the first write and not leave the disc open, so bad for data that's constantly changing, but it is the ultimate backup/archival solution. heres some links

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1193055-REG/verbatim_98912_bdxl_100gb_4x_m_disc.html
www.bhphotovideo.com

Verbatim M DISC BDXL 100GB 4x Blu-ray Discs (Spindle, 25-Pack)

Buy Verbatim M DISC BDXL 100GB 4x Blu-ray Discs (Spindle, 25-Pack) featuring Archival-Grade Discs, 100GB Data Capacity, Up to 4x Write Speed. Review Verbatim null
www.bhphotovideo.com www.bhphotovideo.com
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...ing_owcmr3ukit_mercury_pro_encolsure_for.html

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com www.newegg.com

also, blu ray drives are much more common than tape drives, so its easy to buy one of the millions of used blu ray drives in the future to read archives, tape drives are rare in comparison., plus I think temp/humidity effects them.
 
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Pc6777 said:
heres a cheaper archival solution
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So that solution is M disks?

$10/100GB.
$100 per TB.

Plus the cost of a relevant drive.

Or...$50 for a 1TB HDD.


Backup/archive solutions need to be balanced against use and need.
If this data is to be written once and put on the shelf for 20+ years, never to be touched until then...it needs to be included with 2x relevant drives, and maybe a laptop or two.

If this data is to be routinely updated and possibly moved to time relevant storage devices, why spend twice the money on M disks.
 
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USAFRet said:
So that solution is M disks?

$10/100GB.
$100 per TB.

Plus the cost of a relevant drive.

Or...$50 for a 1TB HDD.


Backup/archive solutions need to be balanced against use and need.
If this data is to be written once and put on the shelf for 20+ years, never to be touched until then...it needs to be included with 2x relevant drives, and maybe a laptop or two.

If this data is to be routinely updated and possibly moved to time relevant storage devices, why spend twice the money on M disks.
Click to expand...
tape and professional archive solutions are cheaper only if you have a ton of data to archive because tape drives are very expensive, not the tape itself. new blu ray burners cost 60ish m disc blu rays are cheaper for the average consumer, but hhds are fine too and much cheaper if you replace every few years and have 2 of them and power them up and check them every so often. yea, your right about the 2 relevant drive part, i have tons of blu ray drives stored in a Rubbermaid bin and sata to usb plus 12v cables that work with them, plus there are millions out there in the wild you can always buy used, blu ray drives for pc arnt super common anymore, but there are millions out there in the wild, tape drives are very rare in comparison. and you can always put a current build of windows on a pc run a vm of current windows builds in the future if there are compatibilty problems with the drives.
 
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I guess for small data, M-discs make sense...for large data like 16TB+ that has to be accessed and updated every now and then HDD is the only way...

I actually have an LG M-DISC drive... I need around 160 100GB M-discs: (160/25)*$250 == $1600 !!!! A Seagate 16TB X16 Exos costs around 400$ .... With $1600 I could buy 4 16TB Exos...
 
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knowledge2121 said:
I guess for small data, M-discs make sense...for large data like 16TB+ that has to be accessed and updated every now and then HDD is the only way...

I actually have an LG M-DISC drive... I need around 160 100GB M-discs: (160/25)*$250 == $1600 !!!! A Seagate 16TB X16 Exos costs around 400$ .... With $1600 I could buy 4 16TB Exos...
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for 16 terbaytes m discs are not the best route, i use them and I have 2 terabytes or so of data m discs. maybe put the most important stuff on them and everything else have on 2 hdds.
 
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