Hey guys,
I am currently thinking a lot about backung up my Server with Storage and things like my Vaultwarden.
As I want something pretty reliable I thought about getting a tapeloader.
What would be the most cost efficient solution there?
Also interested!
https://youtu.be/f6vhrbD9WkA?si=VyAFF8INKBs75FUy
I saw this a few months ago. Might be of interest
you can buy LTO tape drive like dell on ebay, just make sure seller will dump how many hours were written with device. when you will have device you will need to connect somehow to motherboard - for example you will need sas controller which can cost like 100$ on ebay. next step would be choosing os - you can go with debian like system or centos, on github you can find ltfs repository (if i good remember developed by ibm guy? please correct me if im wrong). neext step is buying tapes - good source is amazon, for example 30eu for 2.5tb lto 6 tape (included taxes). good luck!!
ps. about which lto drive you need it depends on your needs, if 2.5tb per tape is fine then go with lto version 6…
for more you can ask on r/DataHoarder
While not a direct answer to your question, you might want to consider M-Disc as a viable long term storage alternative. Much cheaper than tape and guaranteed to last at least 5 years (safe realistically for at least 10 years)
Well the maximum size of an M-Disc Blu-ray is 100GB so I would have to write 10-30 of them… that would be pretty annoying 😅
Tape is a nice option, but it makes sense if you need to backup a lot of data. I personally have a local NAS, which is used as a backup target, and another one for offsite. You will need a library, tape drives, SAS HBAs. You should plan first and then buy all the equipment you need, As mentioned, you might consider m-disc as an alternative. In case you want to play with Tape, you can test Starwinds VTL. https://www.starwindsoftware.com/starwind-virtual-tape-library
