With Google Workspace cracking down on storage (Been using them for unlimited storage for years now) I was lucky to get a limit of 300TBs, but now I have to actually watch what gets stored lol
A good portion is uh “Linux ISOs”, but the rest is very seldom (In many cases last access was years ago) accessed files that I think would be perfect for tape archival. Things like byte-to-byte drive images and old backups. I figure these would be a good candidate for tape and estimate this portion would be about 100TBs or more
But I’ve never done tape before, so I’m looking for some purchasing advice and such. I seen from some of my research that I should target picking up an LTO8 drive as it’s compatible with LTO9 for when they come down in price.
And then it spiraled from there with discussions on library tape drives that are cheaper but need modifications and all sorts of things
In my experience? Minimal. Although when you buy a single drive for over $1k you’re also not super into cracking it open and repairing things. From what I can tell, it’s like a blu-ray drive, but more complex, and more delicate. Not to mention since it’s tape you technically need a clean room, because dust can fuck up the heads.
If I could source decent drives for less than 10 grand I’d be a huge supporter of it, but us pro-sumers are pretty much left with ebay.