[ale] Tape RAID?

[Greg Freemyer]

You don't mead RAID, you mean RAIT (Redundant Array of Inexpensive
Tapes)

Google for RAIT tape drives.  I got several hits.

But as far as performance, a new LTO Gen. 2 tape can handle 30 MB / sec.
of data.  

With that sort of speed, the issue is typically "how do I get data fast
enough to keep the drive streaming?", not "how do I make the tape drive
faster?".

HTH
Greg
-- 
Greg Freemyer


On Sat, 2004-07-31 at 10:05, James P. Kinney III wrote:
> Since the write to tape is slow compared to write to HD, is it feasible
> to make a tape RAID process? I have seen several similar things in the
> enterprise realm but they were not quite what I'm envisioning. They
> would do multiple stream backups. All of one file would be on a single
> tape. The next file might be on a different tape.
> 
> I'm thinking an evenly split data/parity spread across the array of tape
> drives. This would provide all the joys of RAID for a low cost/GB backup
> system. The aim is to have a tape system that can accept a data stream
> as fast as the hard drives can deliver it.
> 
> This would be a real PIA to do using different tape drives that write at
> different speeds. But if the drives all are equivalent, the RAID kernel
> code can be reused to split up the data stream and then a hack on the
> delivery part to support the tape parameters.
> 
> Feasible? Bad idea? Been done already? Jim should not try to think
> before the second cup of coffee has been fully ingested?