[lug] Backup system ideas

[Brian Rodriguez]

Commercial grade tapes used in data center type backup systems have a rated
shelf life of 30 years. Of course they also cost an arm and a leg. Travan tapes
would not fit in that category, and I'm guessing they're rated more along the
line of a 10 year shelf life, which I believe is comparable to a disk drive.
Yes they do demagnetize all on their own if you don't re-write the data
occasionally. But for most non-commercial purposes you don't need to keep daily
backups for 30 years, or even 10 years. Tape based backup remains viable (in
some markets anyway) because the cost per gigabyte is still significantly lower
than disk. If you can afford a disk based backup that holds enough data for
your  needs, and you don't need long tem archival storage, then tape really
offers no advantage.

Brian

--- Hugh Brown <hugh at math.byu.edu> wrote:
> The one great benefit of tape is that it is easy to take offsite.  Anyone
> know whether data decays faster on tape or on disk?
> 
> Hugh
> 
> On Thu, 19 May 2005, Dan Ferris wrote:
> 
> > Another vote for rsync and disk drives.  Tape is my weapon of last resort.
> >
> > Mike Stanczyk wrote:
> >
> > >Since the suggestions every submitted were so great the last time
> > >(pdf creation), I'd like your suggestions and horror stories about
> > >backup systems.
> > >
> > >The problem:
> > >The NT4sp6 server's Travan tape drive is dying.  I've scavanged
> > >enough old hardware to build a backup machine.  The backup machine
> > >will run linux on an internal ide drive with an external scsi
> > >drive to host backup files.  If a spare scsi tape drive of mine
> > >checks out, that will go in as well.
> > >
> > >The software:
> > >Amanda and Backula are on my research list.  Other suggestions?
> > >
> > >Other sillyness:
> > >Windows XP, 2000, and 98 are around too.
> > >
> > >Thanks!
> > >Mike
> > >_______________________________________________
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> > >
> > >
> > >
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