Dump AIT tape technology and buy the HP LTO tape backup?

[Gordon Yee]

I wanted to get other system managers opinions and views on my tape backup dilemna.

Buy another single AIT tape unit ($2K) or buy 2 HP LTO-460 tape units($8K). (Nightly backup of 200-400GB per night.)

Below is the background info on my dilemna.

About 3 years ago I checked out what tape backup technlogoy was available and decided to use AIT-2 tape library and spend about $6K in a 16 slot tape library which overall is working excellently. Until about 2 months ago and I discovered how difficult it was to replace a AIT-2 tape drive. It took about two weeks before HP could replace the AIT tape drive and now I am back operational.

Since it was difficult replacing the AIT. I researched and understand the HP is no longer using the AIT technology and is using LTO.

I have always stayed with compaq and now hp in all my hardware dealing. I now have to consder dumping AIT-2 tape auto-load library and start using some flavor of HP LTO.

Sony is selling the AIT tape backup single and library units. My vendor says sony's AIT tape hardware and support will be as reliable as HP.

Do you have any suggestions with AIT and LTO tape technology and would like to express some opinions?

[Chris Wyld]

Gordon,
I have used both LTO and AIT in the single tape drive attached to a server capacity. While the LTO speed and capacity exceeds AIT, I would be hesitant to drop a tape library for a couple of drives attached to a server. Two weeks seems to be a bit extreme for replacement of a tape drive, but then again, if it's no longer supported you may be forced to go LTO.

[Gordon Yee]

chris,
thanks for your input. i am leaning towards buying a standalone AIT-3 tape backup unit and stay with the AIT technology for a couple more years.

best regards,
Gordon

[Ian Grobler]

I opted for AIT technology in 1998 and have never looked back. We have never used the AIT Libraries from HP except for the small pluggable units/single drive devices.
The Spectralogic libraries we have been using scales from 1 drive/4 tape units up to the big Gator Enterprise libraries and has been very reliable.
Personally I would'nt change my backup technology but rather stick with AIT in this case, albeit from an alternative supplier.