We have always run IBM drives, and have never 'planned' for extra drives to allow for drive failure. I have just upgraded from 10 to 16 drives in the library, but that's a capacity and D/R issue. So far, I've had *one* LTO-2 drive fail such that it needed replacement in just under two years of use. We replaced, IIRC, two LTO-1 drives for not unloading/ejecting tapes before IBM released a microcode upgrade that corrected the problem -- and that was early in the lifespan of the LTO-1.
The biggest item to remember about LTO is that these are streaming tape drives; if your system can not provide the data fast enough to keep the tape in motion they have to stop, back up, and come up to speed again. They aren't designed for that -- the 3592 drives are. That is the biggest reason for the price differential. Tom Kauffman NIBCO, Inc -----Original Message----- From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Paul Zarnowski Sent: Monday, August 07, 2006 4:34 PM To: ADSM-L@VM.MARIST.EDU Subject: Re: FW: Tape Drive Choices: What, and why? At 12:34 PM 8/4/2006, Prather, Wanda wrote: >1) When LTO drives fail, they don't get repaired. The CE just comes in >and replaces them. They are essentially "BIC" drives - plastic parts, >no refills. My understanding was that the IBM drives were more robust, because they used no plastic parts. I've not seen that in writing anywhere. They are more expensive, but IMHO worth the extra $ over the HP drives. When reading/commenting on LTO drives, be aware of which vendor's drives your talking about. They aren't all equal. The LTO spec says that a tape written on one vendor's drive should be readable on another vendor's drive, not that they are manufactured the same. -- Paul Zarnowski Ph: 607-255-4757 Manager, Storage Services Fx: 607-255-8521 719 Rhodes Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853-3801 Em: [EMAIL PROTECTED] CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This email and any attachments are for the exclusive and confidential use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient, please do not read, distribute or take action in reliance upon this message. If you have received this in error, please notify us immediately by return email and promptly delete this message and its attachments from your computer system. We do not waive attorney-client or work product privilege by the transmission of this message.
