LTO tape and would it work for me
 

I was reading a thread about someone backing up a large amount of data, and someone suggested LTO tape for archinving their data. I have come across a reference to LTO tape before, and read that it is used by movie studios so it is not likely to become obsolete too soon.

I discussed backing up my data here, & it was suggested to me to use sets of hard drives; one set at home, & one offsite, & rotating them every 6 months, as I update/get new data.

should I consider LTO tape? I looked at the tapes, and see they need a special super expensive drive to read them.

or would I be better off with just hard drives?

How much storage do you need? LTO drives are often very expensive ($1,000 plus range).

For the vast majority of people hard drives are probably a better option. Hard drives are almost as inexpensive as they have ever been and you can get up to 4TB of storage for a around $130 if you watch the sales. Plus you can then use those drives with virtually any system from the last 6 years.

On the other hand, LTO drives can save you money if you are storing petabytes of data and you primarily need to archive it (like a studio or bank would need to do for example).

The real difference comes down to the cost. A LTO Ultrium-5 tape has 1.5TB (3TB Compressed) of space at a cost of 48-50$. The highest capacity LTO tape is a LTO Ultrium-6 which is 2.5TB (6.25 Compressed), but I have yet to find a online retailer that carries them. A LTO-5 Tape Drive cost upwards of $1500. On top of that, you would need to get a SAS Controller Card as well for your computer and those range from 70-200$.

With an external hard drive as your backup/archival medium, it can cost between 150-300$ depending on the size drive you get and the quantity. We recommend 2, one for on-site and one for off-site. An external hard drive, will also be faster in terms of data access as well.

Keep in mind that any computer you want to use to access a tape backup with, has to have a tape drive, and the right kind. An external hard drive can be accessed from nearly any computer.

-JMP