Solved LTO tape library upgrade
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I "found" a LTO 5 tape lib (Tandberg T24, single drive, single mag, looks like an OEM'd Overland unit). Just don't ask.
I don't know much about libs and would like to know:
- Can the drive be replaced with a LTO 7 or 8 drive? AFAIK the lib itself does not care about the drive and some websites state that at least an "Overland T24" supports LTO 8 drives.
- Can I just add a second tape mag or do I need some additional license?
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The model of the drive and the tapes usually have some backwards compatibility.
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Being that you can only write on an LTO 6 tape though with an LTO 5 compatible drive means you're not getting a huge benefit.
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I know. I want to upgrade the (never used) lib with a new drive and tapes. Right now, there's just a single LTO-5 HH drive installed which could be replaced by a LTO-8 drive.
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@thwr said in LTO tape library upgrade:
I know. I want to upgrade the (never used) lib with a new drive and tapes. Right now, there's just a single LTO-5 HH drive installed which could be replaced by a LTO-8 drive.
So why not just get a LTO 8 unit?
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It seems like you're wanting to do something weird in an attempt to save some money. But I don't see how it would do that. .
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I wouldn't call it weird. I've got a working, brand new unit with fully functional robotics and an "old" drive. That's the point: Replacing the drive would be way cheaper than buying a new library AND a new drive.
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http://www.overlandstorage.com/products/tape-libraries-and-autoloaders/neos-t24.aspx#top
Looks like an drive upgrade is possible.
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... and the last drive that has been built for this lib was LTO-7. So I'll probably better get a new lib with LTO-8 support.
http://www.tandbergdata.com/us/index.cfm/products/tape-drives/lto-drives/lto-7-hh/
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We are looking at going with LTO-8. The capacity and speed and the ability that it is offline and can be offsite extremely easy were all winners in our books. Offline meaning once the tape is in storage it is not on a network and can get hit by ransomware.
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@penguinwrangler said in LTO tape library upgrade:
We are looking at going with LTO-8. The capacity and speed and the ability that it is offline and can be offsite extremely easy were all winners in our books. Offline meaning once the tape is in storage it is not on a network and can get hit by ransomware.
It's just a requirement for us. But yes, your points are valid. 12TB uncompressed per tape isn't that bad. I was looking for an upgrade because 1.5TB for LTO-5 isn't exactly what fits todays capacities.
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@thwr said in LTO tape library upgrade:
@penguinwrangler said in LTO tape library upgrade:
We are looking at going with LTO-8. The capacity and speed and the ability that it is offline and can be offsite extremely easy were all winners in our books. Offline meaning once the tape is in storage it is not on a network and can get hit by ransomware.
It's just a requirement for us. But yes, your points are valid. 12TB uncompressed per tape isn't that bad. I was looking for an upgrade because 1.5TB for LTO-5 isn't exactly what fits todays capacities.
We can't use cloud backup, hasn't been approved for us yet. So the capacity of the LTO-8 tapes is what we like.
