johnj@welch.jhu.edu (John A. Johnston) (04/05/91)
Over the past few months there have been several requests and mini- discussion on who uses what TAPE brand for an Exabyte drive for backing up their systems etc. etc. Issues of concern have been: what will work? what is best? what will work best for less? ** a most important factor anywhere what will work for cheap? brands: sony, exabyte etc. tape life: physical wear & tear. data life: how long will the data last on tapes. We will want better tapes for: daily backup: 30 workstations worth of data to two server exabytes at night [tape life], and monthly backup [data life]. Lesser tapes for: distribution: we send of large files (~300Mbytes) to various places on a weekly basis [what works fo cheap] and don't really expect to see the tapes again for a while. We are presently experimenting with several brands, but if any references or summaries of previous research (University, individual, Lab, or Magazine) would be appreciated. Sorry if this is a beaten to death subject. Thanks, -johnj