Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 23:03:54 -0500 (CDT) From: "Kenneth P. Stox" <ken@stox.sa.enteract.com> To: Garrett Wollman <wollman@khavrinen.lcs.mit.edu> Cc: freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Time to get a backup device, suggestions ? Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.96.980430224717.27440A-100000@m4.stox.sa.enteract.com> In-Reply-To: <199805010139.VAA06214@khavrinen.lcs.mit.edu>
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On Thu, 30 Apr 1998, Garrett Wollman wrote: > Actually, ``god'' in that area is a box made by Ampex called DST > that's about twice the size of a VCR, uses $150 15"x6"x2" tapes, and > costs about $150,000 a pop for the transport. (They tried to sell us > one, but we'd have to pay two FTEs to change tapes before that would > be cost-effective.) They sell boatloads of the things to outfits like > banks (usually with a $2 million library system attached). There are currently several technologies on the very high end, Ampex DST's are a good example, also the Storage Tek "Redwoods." The Redwoods run around $250,000 plus the silo they plug into. I haven't had the chance to plug them into a FreeBSD box, yet :-), but they work just dandy with SGI's. If I ever get the chance, I'll be sure to let veryone know what the results are. To date, I have not been hearing good things about the Ampex's though. The drives have apparently been having reliability problems. The DESY accelerator in Germany has been using them, and I understand that they have been less than happy. The STK's, to date, have been rock solid. Realistically, though, if you are backing up enough, media costs do begin to become a major factor. Exabytes really shine for cost per GB when you figure 8mm data grade tapes will run $5 each in large quantities. DDS-3 tapes tend to cost much more. DLT's are wonderful if you plan on reusing tapes often, they are good for 1000's of passes. The cost per GB is significantly higher, however. -Ken To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message
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