Lets talk about tape

2018-03-25 at 3:33 AM UTC

#1

The Self Taught Man Black Hole

For under $50 you can get an LTO data tape that can hold up to 6 terabytes of data.
That is extremely fucking awesome, and what is even more cool is that the tapes are getting larger as time goes on, in fact Sony recently released a 160tb tape.
The drives are the only downside to tape and the barrier from making tape storage mainstream for data archiving, they typically cost around a thousand dollars but I saw one for $500.

I really want to get into LTO storage for my personal files and data collection.
Imagine, for a thousand dollars you could buy enough tapes to backup every single thing you would ever enjoy onto tape.
That would be like, 100 + terabytes of storage.

This is fucking amazing.

Does anyone here back their stuff up to tape?

2018-03-25 at 3:37 AM UTC

#2

The Self Taught Man Black Hole

You can get 6tb of storage for $24

https://www.amazon.com/HP-HEWC7976A-Ultrium-6-25TB-Cartridge/dp/B00AHQUV3S/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1521948946&sr=1-1&keywords=6tb+data+tape

if you trust HP

just think

You could back up 6tb of flac albums for 24 dollars, or a month's worth of uncompressed gaming footage or hundreds of blu-ray isos or for a thousand dollars worth of those tapes you could back up the entire catalog of a private torrent tracker

2018-03-25 at 3:44 AM UTC

#3

Nil African Astronaut [the overexcited four-footed chanar]

Never heard of this technology, pretty cool. I uh have nothing else to add.

how's the write speed? nvm read the product page

Cartridge can write or read data at 1.4 TB per hour

2018-03-25 at 3:52 AM UTC

#4

The Self Taught Man Black Hole

the one drawback to tape is that the speed is slower than a hard drive but that's not the point
you're not going to be using this like you would a hard drive, it's not for normal use
this is for archiving files, so that if your hard drive fails or you just want to amass a giant collection of files you can store them on these and then put it in a box for safety and forget about it for a while
I'm going to use LTO tapes to create a giant library of files and media, I might even start recording and archiving all of my gameplay.

The following users say it would be alright if the author of this post didn't die in a fire!

Nil

2018-03-25 at 3:53 AM UTC

#5

The Self Taught Man Black Hole

for the record all serious technology and media related companies use this technology for archiving their data
they have huge rooms with thousands of tapes that they have to use a robotic arm to access

2018-03-25 at 6:04 AM UTC

#6

benny vader YELLOW GHOST

tapes arent magnet friendly.

2018-03-25 at 6:21 AM UTC

#7

The Self Taught Man Black Hole

Originally posted by benny vader tapes arent magnet friendly.

keep them away from magnets?

2018-03-25 at 3:42 PM UTC

#8

benny vader YELLOW GHOST

Originally posted by Hikikomori-Yume keep them away from magnets?

but their everywhere.

2018-03-25 at 3:43 PM UTC

#9

Grimace motherfucker [my enumerable hindi guideword]

Tape storage is the most vulnerable to destruction and backwards technology. Stop it.

2018-03-25 at 4:04 PM UTC

#10

Zanick motherfucker [my p.a. supernal goa]

It's such a cheap form of data storage, I almost want to try it as a backup anyway. Is there a way to make it more viable? Not necessarily faster, just less vulnerable, as Panny described it.

2018-03-25 at 5:27 PM UTC

#11

The Self Taught Man Black Hole

Isn't this what Amazon Glacier is?

It's too slow to be used for anything but a second set of backups.

2018-03-25 at 5:36 PM UTC

#12

The Self Taught Man Black Hole

Tape Culture

2018-03-25 at 8:34 PM UTC

#13

The Self Taught Man Black Hole

Originally posted by Zanick It's such a cheap form of data storage, I almost want to try it as a backup anyway. Is there a way to make it more viable? Not necessarily faster, just less vulnerable, as Panny described it.

Keep the tapes in a box inside your closet or someplace with fair temperatures
don't keep any magnets near the tapes
to avoid wearing down the physical parts keep a spare 5tb external hard drive for storing files awaiting tapes, then once ready unload to tape - that's what I'm planning on doing, once it's full I'll load it to tape that will also save me time

basically this is the ultimate god tier form of data storage
for a thousand dollars you could literally archive all of human history that is of interest to you in lossless form

I'm planning on getting into this big time
when it's the 2050s I'm going to have a blast going through all the old tapes, reconnecting with all my old files

2018-03-25 at 9:40 PM UTC

#14

The Self Taught Man Black Hole

Aren't you homeless and living in a tent? How do you expect a tape drive to survive that environment?

2018-03-26 at 3:43 AM UTC

#15

benny vader YELLOW GHOST

Originally posted by Hikikomori-Yume Keep the tapes in a box inside your closet or someplace with fair temperatures
don't keep any magnets near the tapes
to avoid wearing down the physical parts keep a spare 5tb external hard drive for storing files awaiting tapes, then once ready unload to tape - that's what I'm planning on doing, once it's full I'll load it to tape that will also save me time

basically this is the ultimate god tier form of data storage
for a thousand dollars you could literally archive all of human history that is of interest to you in lossless form

I'm planning on getting into this big time
when it's the 2050s I'm going to have a blast going through all the old tapes, reconnecting with all my old files

mold happens.

2018-03-26 at 4:43 AM UTC

#16

The Self Taught Man Black Hole

Originally posted by inb4l0pht Aren't you homeless and living in a tent? How do you expect a tape drive to survive that environment?

A car actually though I am planning on trying a tent maybe (if it's safe)

but yeah I'm going to look into getting a job trimming, then growing and selling I know some people who might have work for me elewhere
but yeah I'm going to contact my cousins in california and suggest we get together, buy some land in the country and grow weed
then a few years from now I expect to be living in an RV
the 2020s I'm going to be nomadic and living in an rv so I'll store my tapes in there

2018-03-26 at 4:44 AM UTC

#17

The Self Taught Man Black Hole

Originally posted by benny vader mold happens.

keep them in an air-tight room temperature environment

2018-03-26 at 5:27 PM UTC

#18

benny vader YELLOW GHOST

Originally posted by Hikikomori-Yume keep them in an air-tight room temperature environment

heat causes the loss of magnetism.

2018-03-30 at 4:52 AM UTC

#19

The Self Taught Man Black Hole

store in a room that is well temped

2018-03-30 at 7:22 PM UTC

#20

benny vader YELLOW GHOST

Originally posted by Hikikomori-Yume store in a room that is well temped

energies and climate control increase the cost 100 fold.

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