[ale] Recommendation for off-line storage?

[Greg Freemyer]

On 5/10/06, Allan Metts <ametts2 at mindspring.com> wrote:
> At 03:48 PM 5/10/2006, Greg Freemyer wrote:
>
> >If so, there is NO data or gaurentee on disk drives maintaining data
> >with power off.
> >
> >We do it a lot around here, but we also make a tape backup before we
> >put the drives on the shelf.
>
> Well that certainly changes the equation.  I was indeed planning to leave these drives on the shelf.
>
> I was planning to make two copies before deleting the on-line data -- so maybe I need to send one copy to tape (for long-term retention), and one to disk (for less-reliable retention, but easy searching and restoration).
>
> So now I'm looking for a tape-based solution too?  Same parameters apply, I suppose:  Linux-friendly, non-proprietary, rack-mountable, minimal hassle.
>
> Although the last time I dealt with tape drives, the tapes were only 20-40 GB.  I have 400 GB and the data center is a remote facility.  Now I'm talking a tape carousel?  Am I going about this all wrong?  Should just make two copies on IDE drives, take them off-line, and hope for the best?
>
> A----

An LTO-3 can hold your data (800GB with compression) on one tape.  LTO
is the market leader for enterprise class tape drives.

See http://www.quantum.com/Products/TapeDrives/LTOUltrium/LTO-3/Index.aspx

The trouble is they are expensive.  I haven't priced one recently, but
I wuold guess $5-10K per drive.

Got curious and found at least one site selling them for around $4K. 
I'm actually surprised there that cheap.  I bought a couple of LTO-1's
about 3 years ago for $5K each and they were used!!

Greg
--
Greg Freemyer
The Norcross Group
Forensics for the 21st Century