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Thoughts on buying used LTO drive?
I’m getting ready to purchase an LTO drive with the idea of moving data from shelved hard drives to tapes for safekeeping.
I’m leaning towards an external HP StoreEver Ultrium 6250 that is used but described as in working condition. I guess in short I’m wondering how problematic LTO drives (either in general or this specific model) tend to be, and if in general it’s considered smart to buy used / out of warranty. Do they have a known general lifespan, or is it that as long they’re working, they pretty much last forever?
Would appreciate thoughts on this!
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3 Replies
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LTO7 tape drives will only drop in price when LTO8 is released. I’m not sure if that’s this NAB or next.
FYI , are you aware that you’re gonna require both a SAS HBA card and software for the LTO6 you’re contemplating? Better add the price of both to your budget if you’re haven’t already considered both.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist & Workflow Consultant
David Weiss Productions
Los AngelesDavid is a Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Apple Final Cut Pro forum.
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Thanks, David! Yes, I was aware of the need for the card and the software, which I guess brings me to another few questions.
Are there any particular cards (hopefully PCI Express) that you would recommend? Or if I buy any SAS HBA card am I in good shape?
Software-wise, do any of the LTO-6 (or 7) models have any advantages in terms of coming with their own well-regarded software? I have seen recommendations on this forum for third-party programs that I might want to purchase, but I was wondering if, say, a Dell or an HP comes with an especially good program.
Also, do you (or anybody else) have any thoughts on the idea of buying a used but working drive?
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We keep a very close watch on the media pricing and we adjust our pricing very quickly when things change (you guys don’t let us keep much stock on hand, thank you ☺ ). Unfortunately, David is probably right about LTO-8 causing a drop in LTO-7. BUT … we didn’t see a drop in LTO-6 when LTO-7 hit. I believe that it’s a combination of adoption and demand. We still sell 2:1 LTO-6 to LTO-7 drives and 10:1 LTO-6 media to LTO-7 media. It really will boil down to economies of scale.
As for complete solutions, take a look at what we offer – everything that you need in one package – SAS card/Thunderbolt, Cables, Drive, Media, Cleaning cart, software, and one company to deal with for support on all of it.
Tim
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Tim Jones
CTO – TOLIS Group, Inc.
https://www.tolisgroup.com
BRU … because it’s the RESTORE that matters!
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