1/3     I'm planning to co-locate a server (with 13 gig of HD). What is a
        good and really cheap affordable backup tape drive I can buy, with good
        Linux drivers?
            \_ Basically, DLT > 8mm (Exabyte || AIT) or 4mm (DAT)
                In my opinion, you're better off with even a DLT2000
                than an Exabyte (reliability sux) or a DAT drive (reliability
                also wanx) because in my 4 years x.p. in the backup field,
                never once have I seen a DLT drive fail.  If it's cleaned
                properly, write errors are few.  The newer AIT drives are
                better than Exabyte's (incidentally, Exabyte declined SONY
                the right to OEM there brand, hence AIT was formed) in
                terms of quality and performance, however, the price is not
                cheap, nor has the basic architecture of 8mm changed---tape
                path from hell.  The DLT has a much more natural (fewer
                winding heads, less tape tention) tape path than 8mm or even
                DAT.  The newer DLT7000 drives easily get 5MB/sec native
                compression (non-compression).  AIT and the newest DDS3 hum
                around 3MB/sec.  Tape drive makers claim you can get 2:1
                hardware compression if you turn it on (i.e. double your
                performance to 10MB/sec), but this depends on how compress-
                able your data is (bitmaps, text, database) and it increases
                wear-and-tear on the drive heads (they must stop-and-wait-
                for-data-compression-write-stop-repeat).  If I had a choice
                between 8mm and 4mm, I'd actually go with the 4mm - 8mm is
                not any more realiable to be worth the extra $pacebux.  Let
                me know if you need software.

                And next time, sign your name so I can send email to you.
                                                        -mtbb
                \_ I've never seen an Exabyte fail except for single tape that
                   had been severely abused.  How often have you seen Exabyte
                   failures?

                        \_ When DLT 2000s & 4000s were coming out, all the
                        vendors of Exabytes were sick of the piles of RMAs.
                        Once they began shipping DLTs instead of Exabytes,
                        all-the-sudden, those RMAs disappeared.  The problem
                        with Exabyte drives is the Tape Path From Hell.  It
                        wears down the tape, the drive heads, and since there
                        are more moving parts, there is a much greater chance
                        of tapes being eaten up, read/write heads breaking,
                        etc.  I have never seen a DLT drive eat a tape like
                        an Exabyte.  AIT seems to have solved some of these
                        issues by reducing the number of spindles and creating
                        a better tape path and integrating memory chips into
                        the tapes themselves (helps load and seek times).
                        While DLT7000s are still quite pricy, I think the
                        best price/performance deal on the market is the
                        DLT2000XT.  If you want 8mm, avoid the 85xx and 87xx
                        series.  The 8900 (Mammoth) drive is fair, but
                        expensive.  I worked for a year and a half at a backup
                        hardware/software re-seller, then for another two and
                        half years at a backup software company.  With drives I
                        personally handled, I had no failures with DLT, 1/1
                        Mammoth had problems loading tapes, 1/1 8700 broke twice
                        and uncountable 8500/8505 drive failures.  As for DAT
                        only a few problems with those drives.
        \_ Any brand-name standard SCSI DAT drive (Seagate, HP, ...).  You
           might want to ask whether there have been problems with a
           particular model you're considering.
          \_ DAT absolutely sucks.  Get the cheap DLT drive or AIT.  -tom
             \_ Ive read alot of stuff about how DATs are bad, but I've used
                the Eliant 820 8mm from Exabyte and haven't had any probs w/
                it thus far, in fact it backs up http://www.housing.berkeley.edu --sly
                \_ DAT is 4mm, not 8mm.  The old 8mm Exabyte stuff sucks
                   pretty bad too but the newer may be better.  I'm skeptical
                   of AIT.  DLT is much more reliable, but $$$ and the tapes
                   and drives are big.  If you just want something dirt cheap
                   the 1/4" drives work ok for occasional backups, but the
                   tapes are expensive.  DAT is ok if the environment is
                   good and you keep everything clean.  -phr
                        \_ we have DAT tapes in machine rooms that we clean
                           twice monthly and use new tapes every 3 months and
                           still have horrible reliability.  -tom
                \_ Yeah, but have you ever successfully done a restore? -ausman
             \_ What about 8mm tapes like Exabyte?
                \_ What do you think AIT is? --dim
                   \_ there are lotsa differences btwn normal 8mm and
                      AIT dipshit.. a cheap AIT drive is prob the best
                      solution.. dlt 4000 is prob good too but prob
                      gon be a bit more expensive but every bit as good
                      -shac
                      \_ Is AIT an 8mm format or isn't it? --dim
                \_ AIT uses 8mm tapes but it's not compatible with old-style
                   exabyte formats.  -tom