Alan, >From the Wikipedia article on LTO:
- Up to and including LTO-7, an Ultrium drive *can read* data from a cartridge in its own generation and the two prior generations. LTO-8 drives can read LTO-7 and LTO-8 tape, but not LTO-6 tape.[29] <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_Tape-Open#cite_note-generation-8-32> [30] <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_Tape-Open#cite_note-Barium_Ferrite-33> [31] <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_Tape-Open#cite_note-ibm-compatibility-34> - An Ultrium drive *can write* data to a cartridge in its own generation and to a cartridge from the one prior generation *in the prior generation's format*. - Some LTO-8 drives may write previously unused LTO-7 tapes with an increased, uncompressed capacity of 9 TB (*Type M (M8)*).[32] <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_Tape-Open#cite_note-M8-35> Only new, unused LTO-7 cartridges may be initialized as LTO-7 Type M. Once a cartridge is initialized as Type M it may not be changed back to a 6 TB LTO-7 cartridge. LTO-7 Type M cartridges are only initialized to Type M in an LTO-8 drive. LTO-7 drives are not capable of reading LTO-7 Type M cartridges.[33] <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_Tape-Open#cite_note-auto-36> - An Ultrium drive *cannot make any use* of a cartridge from a more recent generation. For example, an LTO-2 cartridge can never be used by an LTO-1 drive; and even though it can be used in an LTO-3 drive, it performs as if it were in an LTO-2 drive. So based on that, I'd guess that LTO 4 is the highest version of LTO technology you could make use of with your requirement to be able to read LTO 2 media. I do have an alternative suggestion however: what if you purchased a drive newer than LTO 4, and either used your LTO 3 drive to read any LTO 2 media as needed, OR used migrate jobs to migrate the backups off those LTO 2 tapes to the newer media type? Just fyi, a migrate or copy job type requires two devices be simultaneously available, a read device and a write device. So you'd have to have the ability to connect two LTO drives at once to your system, or maybe would have to migrate tape data to a file volume, them migrate the file volumes to the new LTO standard. I don't know how complex it would be to migrate LTO volumes to disk volumes, then migrate those disk volumes back to the newer LTO tapes. I think it should be feasible in theory. I don't have practical experience with migrate / copy jobs, or LTO variants below 8. Just fyi. Others here may be able to provide more information about migrate / copy jobs, or about your choice of hardware. However Robert Gerber 402-237-8692 r...@craeon.net On Mon, Apr 22, 2024, 10:00 AM Alan Polinsky <alan.polin...@gmail.com> wrote: > I have used Bacula for many years, since version 5. In the past, I have > mentioned my two Nas's along with various Windows and Linux machines get > backed up on a nightly basis to tape. Currently that tape drive is an > LTO3 based drive. Some of the older backups are on LTO2 tapes. My tape > drive is starting to show its age, and within a period of time it will > have to be replaced. (Since I am a retired programmer on a fixed income, > cost, as always becomes an issue.) I need to understand the backward > capabilities of more recent drives. How high could I go with LTO based > machines while still maintaining the ability to read (and hopefully > write) those old LTO2 tapes? > > > Thank you everyone for your help. > > > Alan > > > > _______________________________________________ > Bacula-users mailing list > Bacula-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bacula-users >
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