Buying USED DLT backup tapes, any issues?

[p0ntif]

If I buy some used DLT backup tapes (15/30) should there be any issues to look out for, or should these be good to go? How do DLT tapes degrade? How long do these things typically last?

thanks!

 

[Lord Evermore]

How much are you saving that you're willing to risk your data? Do you have any idea how much usage the current owner put on the tapes? Light usage, they're probably not much degraded, but beyond that, I don't think I'd risk it. New tapes only cost 40 bucks on cdw.com. If this is just for your personal data, then it's probably not a big deal if one fails, but if it's for something important, why risk it?

 

[p0ntif]

well this is for my own stuff, nothing commercial. I just saw that I could pick up used 15/30 tapes for about $4.00 each . . . I figured that If I buy a bunch of these that I could get about 10 for as much as I could buy one new . . . I suppose i could duplicate my backups on two sets of tapes just in case
How long do tapes usually last? I'm new to the tape backup thing as I just acquired a tape drive . . .

 

[Lord Evermore]

Tapes can last a long time, unused. Heck, I have tapes that I was using in 1996, Travan-1 400MB tapes, with a parallel port tape drive, that still work though the data's been corrupted after sitting all this time and being tossed all over, transported cross-country. I don't know about the number of times the tapes can be written/read and run through a tape drive though. If you aren't going to have any idea about the usage on the tapes, go ahead and get them, just don't rely on them exclusively for your backups of important data. Like, use them for a system backup, but also store your personal files on a CD, so if you have a drive failure and the tape isn't any good, you could still just reinstall everything and not lose your data.

 

[p0ntif]

Ok then, let me ask you this, if you back things up to tape and then want to store them, what is the best place to store them? Climate controled? Where? What? When? How?

 

[Thor86]

Used tapes are not worth the hassles that may be associated with if they fail on you at a critical moment. Always buy new tapes. Tapes are like any medium. Store in a cool, dry, dark place.