DLT vs. DAT

[Stanley_Kubrick]

Hey team. Long time no see. This is my first post in the exciting removable drives forum!!!

My company installs DAT tapes in our servers. We cater to the dental industry (usually 1-10 pcs, networked, running our practice management software). The 20 or 40 GB DATs we sell are usually adequate for them.

I have one dentist who wants a DLT drive, as it is his belief that it is faster, better, etc... I was force to admit I had no clue what he was talking about but I would research it for him, so here I am.

He has about 15 GB that needs to be backed up nightly. Is there any weight to the argument for DLT as opposed to DAT? What are the pros and cons?



THANKS for any info ppl!

[SpongeBob]

DLT is a newer technology, and yes it is faster and better... but FAR more expensive. DLT and SDLT suppot on a single tape 80+ gigs native...

We use a SDLT library drive system with Dual write heads and 2 tape magizanes that hold 13 tapes each. It holds 2 TBs of data. We use Vertiase Backup exec to manage it and schedual the back up of our 13 servers. (which uses about 3 -4 tapes per night)

The Drives run for 1000+ (for a single tape drive with software) The tapes are 300 - 400 each!!!

(do the math... and when you consider archiving tape for long term storage... hits the budget hard!!)

But for large data, Exchange servers, and Databases of realtime / 24-7 opetation. it rocks.

Alot of this you can do with DAT, but DLT is a more robust long term storage soultion. Faster, large data capasity, and with library drive reaching into the 10's of Terrabytes you can miss if you tat big.

For the Dentist... SAVE THE MONEY!! he has probally 8-14hrs to perform a backup of data that is NOT IN USE. No need for fancy software like backup exec or Arc Serv. NT Backup is fine. (hahaha) The time it takes a DAT drive to back up 20 gigs, is not going to over run into the morning.. and I just cant see the Dentist office having 40+gigs of data to where he out grows even the biggest single tape DAT Drive!!

it would be a waste of money.. unless he is looking for a TAX write off for his practice. (Maybe he just like cool Tech stuff!!)

Either way... if he insists on it... raise your % mark up.. cause he obviously can afford it.

[DonJ]

You might check out Comparing Tape Formats. Scroll all the way down to the bottom...it has a pretty nice chart where you can compare apples to apples.

BTW, HP (and others, I'm sure) offer the DLT7000s as a stand-alone unit...such as the C6374A. As stated above, they aren't cheap...

Check out http://www.pricewatch.com/
...click on Tape Drives.

Let us know which way you end up going...and, Good Luck!

[silencio]

With 15gig I don't know if I'd bother with a DLT. They're really more suited to large backups with libraries. But, if that's what he wants...