I think Paul gave an EXCELLENT answer, and I agree completely. Remember that IBM is NOT marketing LTO as a replacement for 3590; but as a competitor for DLT, so ask why your organization bought the 3590's in the first place....?
I have yet to see any statistics for mean time to failure on LTO media or drives. They may turn out to be as reliable as 3590's in the long run, but LTO has a BIG job ahead to stand up to the record of the 3590 and it remains to be seen if LTO can do that. If you have a heavy load or many TB of data, you should probably stick with 3590. For a mid-size or small installation, LTO should do fine. TSM pushes the capability of drives and durability of media harder than any other application I've ever seen. Unlike other dump-restore products which write large chunks of data once, then rewrites over the tapes completely after 3-4 weeks in the dump cycle, TSM uses the tapes constantly due to reclaims. It uses a drive almost like a direct-access device; there is a LOT of start-stop and back-hitch acvitity, lots and lots of appending small amounts of data to existing tape files. What I usually tell people: if your organization is accustomed to using 4mm or 8mm tape or DLT, LTO should be a step up and you will probably be happy with it. If you are accustomed to the capability and reliability (both media and drives) of enterprise-class devices like 3490, 3590, or STK 9840, you probably won't be happy with something less. My opinions and nobody else's, Wanda Prather -----Original Message----- From: Seay, Paul [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2001 11:37 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: 3590E1A vs IBM LTO You are probably a smaller environment, what LTO was designed for. However, there are many differences in LTO and Magstar. Magstar recovery from a damaged tape is much greater because of the way the data is recorded. LTO drives are about $10K each and Magstar are still about $45K list. Even with significant discounts Magstar is still going to be more expensive. The upgrades from B1A to E1A are going to probably cost as much as LTO drives already cost. The ultimate question is will LTO's reliability and drive mean time to failure ever equal that of a Magstar. That remains to be seen. If your tapes are not more than 5 years old, they need to figure into the cost equation especially if you have a lot of them. LTO is a good product for what it is designed to do. Provide an open replacement to DLT. You will have to assess whether it is the right time to make a change. I would do a Total Cost of Ownership over the next 3 years for both scenarios. Consider fabric in the picture if you think you are going to do that. That upgrade is another $7K for Magstar per drive. I would get quotes from your vendors for all the pieces. Yes, this is a lot of work, but money talks when the costs are significantly different. -----Original Message----- From: Zosimo Noriega [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2001 5:36 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: 3590E1A vs IBM LTO We are planning to upgrade ADSM to TSM 4.1 and then currently we are using 3494 library with 4 3590B1A drives. Then, we are looking to upgrade or replace the drives into 3590E1A or IBM LTO. Anybody can share from the experience using these drives. and which is the best in terms of performance, availability, cost, data transfer rate, capacity, etc..... thanks a lot in advance. reagrds, Zosi Noriega A D N O C IST-ITD DMSS Tel - 6024987
