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Looking for LTO options
Hey everyone, I hope this is the best place to post this, it made the most sense to put it here.
Ok, so I’ve read
https://magazine.creativecow.net/article/inexpensive-archiving-for-tapeless-media
and done a online demo of Cache-A, but I’m not sure what the difference between a Cache-A, and something like Promax Project Stor.
That is, a single drive that uses software like Bru rather than a custom os?
I get that Cach-A has the OS built in, but if I already have a computer that can take the LTO card (in question right now, does anyone know what slot it needs, will a 4x slot do?) I don’t see why it’s that much worse than a Cache-A.
Anyone have any suggestions on Cache-A vs something like Project stor?
Thanks!
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2 Replies
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Hi Eric –
the ProMax Product puts the LTO in the SAS buss chain. You can also get a stand alone LTO, and connect it directly to the other SAS buss on your computer (ATTO and Areca cards have 2 SAS ports).
If cost is your issue –
https://www.productionbackup.com/info/bundles.phpThese are packages from Tolis Group, who makes BRU, one of the software packages to run your LTO backup. But I cannot stress enough to you that a direct attached LTO is PROCESSOR INTENSIVE, and if you are doing an LTO backup with the ProMax, or HP Ultrium, or Quantum LTO, while you are doing file sharing, it will BOG DOWN YOUR SYSTEM, and you will get drop frames. LTO backup is a process that should happen at night, or weekends, when people are not working.
This all changes with the Cache-A, which is an LTO appliance (Quantum makes one too). You connect via ethernet, and your backup happens quickly and seamlessly to an internal drive in the LTO appliance box. Then the slow painful process of writing to the actual LTO tape happens in the background, all processing being handled by the LTO appliance box (Cache-A) – NOT the server computer, which is very busy handling file sharing for your facility.
If you choose the stand alone solution, from ProMax, BRU direct, Maxx Digital, Small Tree, and others that offer these products, you will be using either EMC Retrospect, or BRU software to do your LTO backup. With the Cache-A appliance, its simple drag and drop to the internal drive of the Cache-A. The backup to LTO is completely handled by the Cache-A electronics.
Bob Zelin
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[Bob Zelin] “But I cannot stress enough to you that a direct attached LTO is PROCESSOR INTENSIVE, and if you are doing an LTO backup with the ProMax, or HP Ultrium, or Quantum LTO, while you are doing file sharing, it will BOG DOWN YOUR SYSTEM, and you will get drop frames”
Bob, I have to disagree with you here. for the last year i’ve been running 2 HP LTO-4 drives on a Mac Pro server with 2 ATTO R380 cards (one card is attached to 2 16 drive RAIDs and the other card is attached to another 16 drive RAID and the HP drives). in my experience BRU PE uses up to 50% of one core of the 8 core Mac Pro, and that’s being generous. the LTO-4 drives would pull anywhere from 80-150MB/s, which would barely touch the 600MB/s of headroom the RAIDs had. never got drop frames.
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Eric Hansen – https://www.erichansen.tv
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