[Sorry this took a few days -- I accidentally sent it to
osf-managers-owner. My apologies to Dave.]
Many thanks for the *very* fast and helpful responses from:
Mitch Bertone
Lucien Hercaud
Sterling Layton
Angela MacKenzie
Felix Maurer
Robert Otterson
The original question was:
I am looking for a high-capacity tape drive for daily backups. I would
prefer to buy Digital, and the two models that I am considering are
the DLT TZ88 (40Gb cartridge) and the DAT TLZ9L (32Gb autoloader on
8 separate DAT tapes).
First I would like to know if anyone has negative reports for either of
these drives w.r.t. reliability. (I am suspicious of the reliability
of the autochanger, for example.)
Secondly, does anyone know if the driver for the TLZ9L presents the entire
set of tapes to the backup software as a single 32Gb tape? I would like
to avoid having to do anything special in order to manage the multiple
tapes.
(Note: I meant "20Gb" rather than "40Gb" for the DLT [I mistakenly read the
compressed figure from the product sheet, rather than the *un*compressed
figure].)
To summarise the responses:
- the DLT is very reliable, whereas the DAT has problems;
- the DLT does not need the "robot" software that the DAT "jukebox" needs;
- the DLT is faster than the DAT for both backup and restore;
- the DLT media is more expensive than DATs, but in the long run probably
works out cheaper.
I have appended the individual responses. Thanks again to all of you!
Regards,
Ian
> From: "Mitch Bertone" <mbertone_at_gtech.com>
>
> I would recommend that you purchase the TZ88 or even better the TZ89,
> you will not have to use Robot Utility software that you would have to
> with the DAT drive autoloader, and the TZ drives are much faster and
> reliable. (I know, we have a mix of DAT and DLT, the DLT wins on all
> counts)
>
> I would get the TZ89 if you can, with the CompacTape IV, you get 70
> gig on a tape with compression, at 5 meg per second, no DAT can match
> that. Media is more costly, but in the long run, less costly than all
> those little DAT tapes. I you value the data you are backing up, the
> DLT is the safe bet.
> From: Lucien_HERCAUD_at_paribas.com
>
> The jukebox will not look like a single tape.
> Use the DLT one, or even better: TZ89 35/70 Gb capacity
> From: Sterling Layton <layton_at_rampod.robins.af.mil>
>
> We are using the DLT TZ88 here. Nothing negative to report - been using it
> for about 18 months now and not the first problem.
> From: Angela MacKenzie <amw_at_aber.ac.uk>
>
> I just wanted to let you know that we used to use a TLZ7L 120m DAT autoloader
> and it worked well for a while but then after an operating system upgrade it
> was never the same. The backups on it never gave errors but were not very
> reliable and in the end we exchanged it for a TZ88 single DLT drive.
>
> The TZ88 has been an extremely good replacement. Its throughput is much
> faster and restores are alos quicker to complete. This system has proved to
> be far more reliable than any of the DAT drives we use.
>
> I would go for the DLT drive. The only downsided is that the media is as yet
> very expensive in comparison to DAT and if you loose one of these tapes you
> lose a lot of data but I think we run enough backups to cover for this
> eventuality.
> From: "Maurer Felix, IP5" <maurerf_at_post.ch>
>
> We are using TZ88 and are very happy with that tape drive, it is very
> reliable and we have very few tapes to handle with. There is 2 small points
> that you should be aware of :
>
> - Data exchange in the Unix communauty may be a little harder as with
> TLZX
> - I didn't compare media prices, but as far as I know there are
> expensiver as TLZX
>
> I hope this help
> From: Robert Otterson <Robert.Otterson_at_digital.com>
>
> I would go with the TZ88 ( I have used both). A TZ887 would give you
> seven tapes. If your looking for cost savings try a TZ877. You won't
> get 40 gig a tape,(20 gig) but the tapes are cheaper and you may be able
> to pick up a 2nd hand or re-furbished model.
> (not official support, personal opinion)
Received on Fri Dec 26 1997 - 16:30:37 NZDT