On Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:57:24 +0000, Invisible wrote:

>>>> Never used DAT drives for backup, have you? ;-)
>>> No, only for the last 6 years.
>> 
>> I feel for you.  I had tapes that actually verified nightly that were
>> completely useless to restore from.  This is back in the DDS-1/DDS-2
>> days, so maybe it's improved - but here's the thing:  DAT stands for
>> "Digital Audio Tape".
> 
> We used to use DDS-3, DDS-4 and DAT-72. (Don't you love how all tapes
> have storage capacities "assuming 2:1 compression"? I have never seen
> any backup job achieve anything approaching 2:1 compression.) Never had
> any significant problem. After about 4 years the tape would wear out,
> but that's hardly a big deal assuming you notice this and replace the
> tape.
> 
> Never had any issues of any kind with restoring data from tape.

You've been lucky, then, is all I can say based on my experience.

> I *have*, however, had endless issues with BackupExec not actually
> ****ing working properly! >_<
> 
>>>> Horrible quality of storage media, and terrible shelf life IME.
>>> Really?
>> 
>> Yes, really.  With the DDS-2 tapes I was using at the time, the
>> manufacturer recommended no more than something like 10 or 20 uses.
> 
>> I'm glad I didn't pay for the drives - otherwise I'd have been more
>> upset that they burned out so quickly (about a year, IIRC - but I was
>> running backups on a more or less continuous basis as part of my
>> testing).
> 
> I think we had 1 tape drive wear out. (We had about 6 of them.) And it
> was the oldest, crappiest one of the lot.
> 
> Seriously, I did tape backups every single weekday for 6 years and had
> almost no issues related to the tapes or tape drives. That's not what
> I'd consider "unreliable".

I spent the better part of a 15+ year IT career dealing with backup 
systems (among other things).  I even managed to get "suspended" from 
work for a week because of equipment and media failures that prevented 
restoration of a system that actually did die (and of course, it was the 
finance system) at one job.

If the choice were to back up using DAT drives - even with modern tapes 
and drives - or die a slow and painful death in a horrible manner, I'd 
take the slow and painful death.  Even with the advancements in 
technology.

The technology is/has been notoriously bad, the media is crap, and the 
software for PC systems backups makes me want to gouge my eyes out with a 
dull instrument.

>> I had much better luck with DLT drives.
> 
> I have no idea what DLT is.

GIYF - "Digital Linear Tape".

Jim

Post a reply to this message