Re: Permanent backups to tape? Do you have a Tape Unit that can read those old tapes?

[DrFranken <midrange@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Very true.  Had a customer who still had 3200 BPI 10" Reel tapes in 
storage up to a few years back. Every year the auditors would ask: "Do 
you have a tape drive that can read these tapes?"  Truthful answer was 
Yes, however it was on a pallet and couldn't be connected to any machine 
they had possessed for 10 years!  Finally one auditor asked: "And can 
that drive be used today?" Truthful answer: No. ALL those tapes and the 
drive went to the dump via a shredding service.

This is also why I keep in the FrankenLab:  LTO1, LTO2, LTO3 drives. 
3570 Drives. QIC 2G, 4G, 13/16G, 25G, and 100G drives. 8MM 7/15G and 
20/40 AME, 3590 J, and 3490 drives - just in case someone calls. :-) 
(And they do call!)   I also have LTO4 and LTO5 and RDX in my colo. No I 
can't hook ALL Of them up at once....

    - Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis


On 12/17/2012 2:41 PM, Eric Lehti wrote:
> Does your enterprise back up to tape with the intention of permanent
> storage?
> Be sure to keep a tape unit that is compatible with those old tapes so
> you can restore data from them,
> or convert the old tapes to a newer format that is compatible with your
> current architecture.
>
> As part of our upgrade to 8202-E4C POWER7 on V7R1, we began using its
> integrated LTO5 tape unit and discontinued the
> System Storage LTO4 model 3573/L4S (which was able to read LTO2 tapes).
>
> Discovered today that the new POWER7 cannot read our ancient LTO2 tapes,
> whereas the previous model 3573 could.
>
> Message CPF4119 is produced in job logs, and tape unit window and yellow
> warning light comes on the front of the unit.
>
> We rarely retrieve data from LTO2 tapes due to the many years that have
> passed, but once in a while we do.
>
> Sigh.  Maybe I should "future-proof" my tape backup strategy as much as
> possible by using Ultrium5 tapes from now on,
> and discontinue use of Ultrium4 tapes.