[brazen1]

Hi.

I am backing up my digital media on a couple 5 bay port duplicators 1:1.
As I upgrade a HDD on my server, I retire the former smaller one to a port duplicator.
Currently I am in the market for yet another HDD, an 8TB costing around $300.
I will retire a 4TB from my server so my actual HDD space gain will only be 4TB for the server and 4TB for the backup.
This is a typical ongoing scenario as my collection grows and will continue.
I understand many wonder why 1:1 but this discussion is not about various software/hardware raid solutions.
I'm trying to understand pros and cons of alternative backup, in this case, tape.

Over time, cost is something to consider and I've recently discovered 'Tape Backup'.
I see an LTO 6 tape holds 2.5TB/6.25TB (Compressed) costing about $35.
A 6TB HDD would cost 5 times that.
A recorder and other windows friendly hardware would be required but those appear to be affordable and available.
My limited searching also tells me tapes will outlive HDD's and failures due to handling, etc.
Though speeds are not an issue I understand they can be impressive.

My concern is tape price vs. HDD so what would be a proven economical approach to get up and running?
I don't even know if tape backup is a viable alternative since searching the forums came back blank.
I was hoping others would chime in with their experiences, if any, so I might gain some insight since I am naïve about everything tape backup.

[Stereodude]

Keep in mind you're not going to get much, if any compression on media files, so you need to consider the uncompressed size of the tape in your calculations.

[brazen1]

Good point.
I've tried compressing media using hdd's but in the end the savings was minimal.
Never tried on tape and assume because the media doesn't care if it's on tape or hdd, the compression would be the same since the media itself is what is compressed and the container it's going in doesn't matter.
So in reality, there isn't enough price difference to consider tape as an economical alternative........

Thanks for helping me think clearly.

[sapper6fd]

Tapes are slow as molasses.

Side note, Sony has developed a backup tape that holds 185 TB of data..... extremetech .com/computing/181560-sony-develops-tech-for-185tb-tapes-3700-times-more-storage-than-a-blu-ray-disc

[brazen1]

It appears LTO 6 is the largest retail tape available at this time and I assume when larger capacities are released the price will most likely parallel hdd's gig for gig.
So unless Sony donates one of those 185TB to me, I'll still be purchasing hdd's. ; )

[shabuboy]

oh my gosh! Tape backups, it sounds so 2000s!!!! Even at my workplaces haven't seen those for years!
:-)

Wonder what I did with my Iomega tape drive... hmmm... can't remember...

[sapper6fd]

oh my gosh! Tape backups, it sounds so 2000s!!!! Even at my workplaces haven't seen those for years!
:-)

Wonder what I did with my Iomega tape drive... hmmm... can't remember...

Unfortunately, and sadly they aren't and are still used in mass quantity. They are fantastic for long therm storage of data. Google uses tapes like its 1989 ans has one of the largest tape libraries on the planet.