Old tape backup methods.

[Unknown_K]

People have been complaining about the reliability of old QIC tape systems (rollers turning to goo, tape band tensioners breaking) for some time now.

I was wondering what you guys think of newer but obsolete and/or abandoned tape backups like DAT, AIT, DLT, 8MM, old LTO etc.

I have tossed a few DAT drives because they went bad and ate a tape but the rest seem reliable enough for vintage systems.

 

[tradde]

I had an old DAT drive that had the rollers go to goo. I did not realize till I put a tape in and tried to use it. I had plans to fix it
but on moving here it got recycled instead. I still have the tapes that I would like to be able to read someday. I don't have
any suggestions on what is best.

 

[Chuck(G)]

For QIC/SLR, my preferred drive brand is Tandberg. I still hate the stuff.

I still need to use DDS (1,2,3,4) for customers--my advice there is buy Sony.
8mm is pretty much exclusively Exabyte. I recently did a 2GB retrieval from on of those using an EXB-8700. No issues.
DLT is very reliable in my experience. Quantum made some very nice drives for IBM back in the day.
LTO (dash whatever) is still in current use in many locations. I don't like it, but that's just a gut feeling. I can't claim to have any problems.
The king of them all is probably half-inch open reel (7 or 9 track) tape. Drives are expensive, but the medium has proven its reliability.

 

[Unknown_K]

Is LTO the only tape standard still alive at this point?

I was kind of shocked SLR was just a newer QIC type standard when I snagged a drive and tapes (seemed to work ok).

AIT is actually 8mm derived from Sony's videotape. The interesting thing about AIT is that tape directory is stored in a memory chip on the tape.

 

[Bob-O-Rama]

I had an old DAT drive that had the rollers go to goo. I did not realize till I put a tape in and tried to use it. I had plans to fix it
but on moving here it got recycled instead. I still have the tapes that I would like to be able to read someday. I don't have
any suggestions on what is best.

We couldn't get DAT drives to work when they were brand new. I think at one point we had a dozen of them, and in any given week we had one die. Most offices have a sports pool. We had a tape pool. Every week each of us would put in $5 and a guess as to the next drive to die.