In article <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask]
says...
>
>We're taking a look at moving from DDS-2 to either DDS-3 or DLT drives for
>tape backup.  I've got the performance and storage specs on the drives, but
>am wondering if anybody on this list is using either format and has any
>comments regarding reliability, tape life, etc, that they would like to
>share, for either format.   You can email me direct if you like.
>

My biggest problem with DLT is the media cost....$50 for a 30GB cartridge,
$100+ for a 40 GB cartridge. Since we only have 12 GB to back up, both of these
are kinda wasteful. My software can do appended backups, but we're a lights-out
shop and I don't wanna get caught with not having enough tape at the end of a
volume on night cuz I was doing appended backups. Also, I don't seem to be able
to use fast searches on my DLT...it takes a LONG time to find files during a
restore. The last thing is that, being a kinda small shop, we can only afford
one of these guys right now...which means I can't use my backup tapes to
recover files at some other site, and if my DLT breaks then I am just SOL until
it's fixed...we can't afford a spare unit right now.

Other than that, I like the DLT. It has great capacity and excellent backup
speeds. It has been very reliable up until now.

Oh, I am using it to do backups on my HP9000 network, using RoadRunner/UX.

--
Mark Landin
T. D. Williamson, Inc.
UNIX Sys. Admin
"If you take the smooth, you gotta take the rough" -- Rob Halford