In this day and age, why on earth, would anyone waste the bits to proclaim that tape drives, and tape libraries are still viable means to protect your data?
Why indeed, well those who are cynical, could say, it is because tape pays our bills and keeps our lights on, and one would be more than correct. With the advent of the cloud, continuing expansion of the capabilities of solid-state and disk based storage tape-based data storage may look less and less like a good choice, but dollar for dollar, bit for bit, tape drives and tape libraries still come out on top for protecting your most valuable business asset, your DATA.
What happens, in the unlikely event of a disaster? What are the odds that the first thing you will have is internet access? Without a fast and secure means of getting at your backed up data, the cloud is useless. Disk storage is far from portable, so in that unlikely event, your data will more than likely be lost. At around a hundred dollars a terabyte, solid state, while promising is still out of the range of a small to mid-sized business budget. all of that aside, tape is slow and seek times to access data, while improving, will never match that of the methods mentioned above, So why tape?
Backing-up your data for the disaster that may never come, is like taking out auto insurance. Well, not quite, it has yet to be mandated by law. Tape libraries, provide the perfect balance between portability, affordability, and accessibility. Storing real-time data in a tape library array would be foolish, that is where disk and solid-state excel. Today’s tape libraries are based on over forty years of technology experience. LTO-4 tape drives provide 800 GB of uncompressed storage per cartridge and have data transfer rates of up to 120 MB per second. The data on tape, generally remains accessible for 25 years or more, and tape libraries today, allow for hot swap of tape cartridges. Replacing a full tape cartridge with a new formatted one, no longer requires stopping a backup operation. Tape is easy to transport and store off-site, and most importantly, easily accessible to restore your data, after disaster strikes. Tape libraries, in general, provide a sane, sensible and affordable solution to backing up your data.
Pinetree Peripherals, is an industry leader when it comes to maintaining and repairing your tape libraries. Whether you just need some replacement tape drives, to you want to upgrade from DLT tape drives to LTO tape drives, Pinetree, has the expertise and the inventory to accommodate your needs. Pinetree can provide on-site service, and our 5 day turn-around time for depot repair, is one the best in the industry. So give us a call today at (303) 776-5066, or contact via e-mail to discuss how we can help you insure your future if that horrible day should ever arrive at your doorstep.