Tim Gerhard
1
COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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Turtle Cases are the way to go.
https://turtlecase.com/collections/lto
Tim Gerhard
MagStor Inc.
614-505-6333
tgerhard@magstor.com -
You’re lucky if you can read a DAT / DDS tape after so long. The media is expected to last 10 years. Our data recovery department encountered a DAT tape from the 90’s and the data was just long gone.
The main problem that I see with LTO TAR systems is that the companies that make the software get swallowed so often. I’m wrong to say proprietary, but when you need an IT pro that knows how to use TAR or data recovery service to help you get your data off your tape, I can’t say that many people are very happy about it. Most people don’t even know what software was used to write the tape when they come looking for help.
TAR is still much easier to deal with at least, just make sure you have a plan to recover your data assuming a bad scenario of that software becoming unavailable. Old tape hardware is still pretty easy to get, we sell LTO2 drives quite frequently still for support contracts.
Tim Gerhard
MagStor Inc.
614-505-6333
tgerhard@magstor.com -
I’m the LTO guy so I’ll stick to the LTO talking point, but I don’t think it should be disk storage vs LTO, you should have both.
LTFS is just the way to go now when using tape. The old tarball way of making 1x file that is proprietary to a single version of software is a thing of the past like Casch-A.
I see Hedge has the canister app now, which I intend on running through the ringer when I find some time. Imagine Products and YoYotta have been in the LTFS game much longer than Hedge and have much more experience. When pondering over the single deck LTFS type support, these are all small companies, but you need to take their location / time zone into account. Imagine Products are in Indiana USA, YoYotta is in the UK, and Hedge is in Amsterdam or something? (Their website has no contact us or about us section, NOR support page).
StorageDNA is probably the largest company for LTFS single deck, with their myltoDNA product, which is built off of Imagine Products myLTO, but it has the “HyperTape” version. It isn’t $4000 for the support, that is for the library version I would guess.
I wouldn’t worry too much about Thunderbolt going out of style, and you can always just remove the drive from the enclosure later as they’re all SAS drives.
I sell Imagine Products and YoYotta with our MagStor line of LTO Thunderbolt & SAS solutions, and both have proven to provide top notch support.
I can’t speak for Hedge or Tolis group as I have no experience, but it seems like most of this forum is complaining about Tolis group most of the time, which could just be unwarranted because their ticket wasn’t responded to immediately.
Tim Gerhard
MagStor Inc.
614-505-6333
tgerhard@magstor.com -
Did you use LTFS format or the BRU one?
If you used LTFS, just load it in another LTFS software to check for the files.
If in the BRU format…. contact BRU support.
Tim Gerhard
MagStor Inc.
614-505-6333
tgerhard@magstor.com -
I think the lesson of the story here is don’t use the free software. You’ll save yourself from major headaches in the future for a very little investment compared to your tape drive on YoYotta.
Tim Gerhard
MagStor Inc.
614-505-6333
tgerhard@magstor.com -
I’ll have to try the trial to see what this thing is about, but I find the lack of documentation on the features very disturbing.
There are no system requirements as to which MAC OS this will run on, or even stating it is MAC software. It says it works on all standalone LTO drives, but a lot of people don’t know only LTO5 and above will run LTFS. If they’re using the IBM standard LTFS, it doesn’t work with all brands of drives either.
Nothing in the features about verification. The main selling point when customers ask me why they need myLTO or YoYotta is that the free stuff isn’t going to run verification or keep a log/database of what files were transferred to each tape.
I’m all for more people promoting LTFS and offering new solutions, but I don’t know how this one will measure up against the current solutions. If verification isn’t there, then I can’t recommend it as a viable solution.
Tim Gerhard
MagStor Inc.
614-505-6333
tgerhard@magnext.com
NAB 2018 Booth #SL15816 -
Non-Stop drives are specifically to be used in an HPE Stack environment, and generally cost 4-5x more than a normal drive. Usually only government or major corporations use them.
The LTFS utility is very specific and picky about the drives you’re using, so you’d need a regular HPE drive.
You may want to try Xen Data Workstation 6 for Windows since their LTFS package is vendor neutral.
Tim Gerhard
MagStor Inc.
614-505-6333
tgerhard@magnext.com
NAB 2018 Booth #SL15816 -
Wait I see you have M8705A, which is a non-stop drive. Non-stop is a special drive and I don’t think you can use LTFS with it. You’ll need a normal drive.
Tim Gerhard
MagStor Inc.
614-505-6333
tgerhard@magnext.com
NAB 2018 Booth #SL15816 -
Something is wrong with your HBA or the drive isn’t connected properly.
Is the drive showing up in device manager as an Ultrium-5?
Tim Gerhard
MagStor Inc.
614-505-6333
tgerhard@magnext.com
NAB 2018 Booth #SL15816 -
Make sure your tape drive has the latest firmware using HP LTT. Check on your SAS card to see if it supports LTFS tape drives, not all SAS cards are capable.
I believe HP LTT also has an LTFS readiness check tool now as well.
Tim Gerhard
MagStor Inc.
614-505-6333
tgerhard@magnext.com
NAB 2018 Booth #SL15816