LTO backup tape

I've setup backup systems using LTO for clients with lots of video data, but me myself I am using single hard disks that sit on a shelf, and/or NAS for projects I currently have on the go.

Couple things about LTO in general, you can hit close to theoretical maximums of 60GB per hour to backup (or greater) but its only going to be as fast as the weakest link in the chain. The computer processing the backup itself can make a difference, as well as the quality of the interface card to the backup device. i.e.. SAS or SCSI, etc.. The hard drives storing the data being backed up can make a difference in speed too, and if you are going to backup through a network then you need at least Giga-bit ethernet ports and Giga-bit switches for your network.

I find high performing servers deliver the fastest transfer (backup) rates but these days you can get a powerful modern PC with SAS built in or buy an add-on card if you already have a machine. You also need to consider the software you will use to manage the backup which can include a local database where it keeps track of all the files and folder structure on every tape that you've backed up. Good backup software is not cheap, but there may be third party or free ones you can try.

Lastly you need to consider where you will end up storing all the tapes so when it comes time to restore your data you can rest assured that you will not run into any restoring issues. :huh:
 
I used to do backups to LTO4 over an SAS connection, and it was about 3-4 hours to write a full tape (800gb uncompressed) and the same amount of time to verify the data.

It's a very simple process, though I guess that might depend on the software you use (I've only used Bru PE).

Also, it's been awhile, but I seem to remember it going a lot faster if you're backing up several larger files versus many smaller files.
 
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You can turn the verify option off if you like (some don't because they want to be sure) and also I don't recommend using compression since it is one more possibility for something to go wrong when un-compressing.

Also I forgot to mention that restoring usually takes longer than the backup itself did. Again its faster to restore to the hard drives in the server doing the backup then trying to restore through the network to another computer, etc..
 
I work at a film school and what I want to do is set up a self-service station where students can back up their work. Typically about 1/3 of the students experience total hard drive failure at some point before they graduate. I'm hoping this could be an affordable, realistic option. I've never worked with LTO before but aside from redundant hard drives and constant maintenance this looks like the only option.
 
Tapes are half to a third the cost of hard drives (at today's prices) but you need the time to backup & restore the data to hard drives which can be extremely time consuming and also eat up the resources of your computer for the day.. hard drives you can pop in and start using immediately without restoring.

For the cost of the backup drive, tapes, powerful computer with fast SAS controller and speedy internal hard drives, I would sooner put that money into drives, NAS or SAN.

Each technology has its trade-offs but tape technology is old school and being replaced with SAN's syncronizing data across local or wide area networks for redundancy and instant accessibility.
 
One thing to consider is that while an LTO backup system should be relatively easy to use for a tech savvy person, I'm not sure that every film student is going to be savvy enough to run it, so a self-service station might not be feasible for a lot of them.

If you were storing all of the student's footage online on a SAN during the course of a semester and then having a system admin archive to tape at the end of the semester, I think that would be a more fool-proof system.
 
Fool proof yes, but it'll never happen with our IT guys...

I'd like to make something available to those that care to learn and go through the effort but not put the burden of the uncaring on the entire system. Tragedy of the Commons.
 
starcentral said:
Tapes are half to a third the cost of hard drives (at today's prices) but you need the time to backup & restore the data to hard drives which can be extremely time consuming and also eat up the resources of your computer for the day.. hard drives you can pop in and start using immediately without restoring.

For the cost of the backup drive, tapes, powerful computer with fast SAS controller and speedy internal hard drives, I would sooner put that money into drives, NAS or SAN.

Each technology has its trade-offs but tape technology is old school and being replaced with SAN's syncronizing data across local or wide area networks for redundancy and instant accessibility.
Click to expand...
LTO is for backup or archiving though, not redundancy. Different tools for different jobs. Eventually data needs to find a 'safe' home offline as perpetually adding more and more spinning harddrive does not scale well past a certain point.

I agree though that a self-service type LTO station might not be the best idea for students. Redundant HDDs seems like a better way to go in part because students don't need to go to a single computer in order to backup or retrieve their data.


-Andrew
 
I think anyone that is tech savy enough to edit video is tech savy enough to use basic tape drive software. It's not that complex and proper process can be taught in under an hour.
 
adkimery said:
LTO is for backup or archiving though, not redundancy. Different tools for different jobs. Eventually data needs to find a 'safe' home offline as perpetually adding more and more spinning harddrive does not scale well past a certain point.

I agree though that a self-service type LTO station might not be the best idea for students. Redundant HDDs seems like a better way to go in part because students don't need to go to a single computer in order to backup or retrieve their data.
Click to expand...

There is no doubt data is growing, getting larger and there are many companies who do less to manage quotas etc.. because quite simply disk space keeps getting larger and cheaper. As many learned after 911 it was faster, safer and more redundant to keep mirrored copies of data between sites using SAN syncronizing through WAN's and in some cases in opposite ends of the country.

More and more companies have moved over to this model rather than "tape backup" for this reason. It is not so much about being different tools for different jobs. If your data is in two places it is "backed up". This is a high availability solution serving many purposes.
 
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