LTO or other tape archival for Mac OSX ?

[Sergio Perez]

Hi everyone,

I've searched the forums and couldn't find anything about this on the mac specifically, so I went ahead and created this thread. Hope I'm not double posting on this. If I'm, please remove this thread.

Currently I have more than 20 TB of content in HDD's that I've aqquired over the years. Some of these drives are starting to fail, and I want to do a proper tape backup of this. I've heard very good things about LTO, but from my research I can't find a proper "plug and play" native LTO for mac solution. Does such a thing exist? Any specific brand and a link that can be provided? I would like something that I could connect to the Mac Tower either through esata, FW800 or even Thunderbolt (on my laptop). I'm a bit of a computer idiot so complex things like cross boot ups, terminal commands, etc. makes me struggle a lot. If everything could be as simple as "drag and drop", you would really be helping me out! However, if it has to be, it has to be. As for renting, over here, unfortunately, such service doesn't exist.

I ask about LTO, but if there's any other solution that anyone can recommend for safe archival in a Mac centric environment, please do share! Bare in mind I'm an indie producer, do not have a very big budget. So budget is a concern!

Thank you for your time for reading this!

Sergio

[Brian F Kobylarz]

Sergio,

There will be others far more knowledgeable than myself that I'm sure will add to this thread.

But to start the discussion, LTO is an excellent choice, it is the standard for financial institutions, government - anywhere data retention is required to be rock solid. Cost is very affordable - even with the initial investment when you calculate as a cost per GB.

As far as understanding the LTO numbering system:
Each generation reads back two and writes both current and back one so you can be assured that any data you back up today will survive a couple generations of drives.
Another way to state it:
A LTO-5 drive can write to LTO-4 and LTO-5 cartridges. It will read LTO-3, LTO-4 and LTO-5 (each generation doubled the capacity)
A LTO-4 drive can write to LTO-3 and LTO-4 cartridges. It will read LTO-2, LTO-3 and LTO-4.

A lot of people just storing data purchase "last years model" to save money on cartridges - perhaps not the best idea because for creatives because LTO-5 introduced a new feature called LTFS.
LTFS (Linear Tape File System) can make a LTO-5 drive & cartridge look just like an external hard drive making file management and retrieval easy.

Note: LTFS will not work on LTO-4 - it was new to LTO-5 and will be there going forward. It was introduced two years ago at NAB - definitely a maturing medium.

Take a look at Tolis group - they have software for folks like us to manage creative files (BRU) - and they have turn-key systems. If you go to their web site, they have good info and some white papers.

And yes, it will work with MAC OSX 10.5.6 (Leopard) and 10.6.7 (Snow Leopard) - but this is where I step aside and let smarter people add to the discussion...

[Sergio Perez]

Thank you Brian! Any particular model you suggest? I'll check out Tolis Group. Thanks again for such a comprehensive reply. Very helpful!

Sergio

[Brian F Kobylarz]

Cannot really suggest a particular model - you can incorporate it into your workflow in a number of ways.
Again, not really my focus - there should be vendors such as Tolis that deal with this everyday.


Some background on manufacturers: IBM developed the initial LTFS prototype - then revised it in partnership with HP and Quantum.
An LTO Consortium was formed - there were some early issues with LTFS compatibility between all the players, but I believe all is well.
As long as the manufacturer is part of the consortium, you should be good.

Next step is determining the interface and form factor.
Fibre or SAS connectivity?
External or internal?
Note: The external models make the technology very portable for backups in the field, internal if you have the extra space in a tower.

For really high data storage requirements, library systems.
Last year I held a SMPTE meeting at WWE in Stamford, CT.. WWE had recently completed a huge initiative - moving all of their video material onto LTO. Think of it - everything they had banked in whatever format from DV to VHS to HD - all transferred to LTO-4 tapes in a large robotic library. That is a lot of wrestling footage - now available to all of their editors as data files instead of searching for a tape to ingest.

Whatever you learn, please share with others here. Very much deserving of a thread.

[Nick Pasquariello]

At work, we use a Cache-A Pro Cache 5. It's an LTO 5 drive and also has 2 2TB hard drives (for staging data to and from the LTO tapes). It has a MySQL database and keeps track of every file you ever move to a tape. Pretty solid device, list price is, I think, a hair under $9k.

Which is great when you make about 2 LTO tapes a year for a whole post production facility. I'd love to find, for my own personal storage, a "dumber" LTO drive that I may write about a tape a month, and keep an Excel spreadsheet of what data is on which tapes. Basically, just the tape drive, nothing else that comes with Cache-A. I'd love suggestions if anyone has any.

[Dave Blackham]

HP and Tandberg LTO 5 work fine. LTO tapes are at a premium right now so LTO 4 is less costly. Id still go with LTO 5 though probably with BRU PE or BRU server depending on your needs. Its very reliable though.

[Brian F Kobylarz]

Sergio,

Not knowing your timeframe for purchasing a system, but there is a free webinar on August 9th that will if nothing else, help out the learning curve.

http://engage.vevent.com/index.jsp?eid=1087&seid=143


(We like free)

[Bob Gundu]

Anyone have experience with this product?

http://ww2.productionbackup.com/

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Tolis' BRU software is the gold-standard on OSX for tape backup. BRU-PE is perfect for most of us. I'm using it for both LTO-4 and LTO-5 drives and it hasn't let me down yet. Tim Jones from Tolis Group frequents these forums and will answer questions. They offer some bundle pricing, which are reasonably priced and are a great way to start if you're new to this. You can buy a package that has the software, host adapter, tape drive as well as cables and anything else you need. As for LTO tapes, I usually have the best luck on eBay. I just bought 3 x 5-packs of LTO-4 media earlier tonight. With free shipping, the already cheap price as well as $40 in eBay bucks to cash in, they came to about $17 per tape.

On Windows there are various software options, including Windows 7's own backup and restore features. I recommend installing and running the LTFS file system drivers ...Really wish BRU-PE was available on Windows though.

[Tom Goldberg]

Alert - unpaid plug from a Bru competitor:

Since Sergio is self described as "a bit of a computer idiot" and looking for a plug and play solution, I thought I'd jump in and point out that a Bru solution is a roll-your-own, where you provide the computer, you install the SAS card, you hook up the drive and install and maintain the software. Hardly plug and play IMO.

The Cache-A solution really is plug and play, comprising a complete embedded computer and software solution with an LTO drive. Our systems start around $6k for LTO-4, are networked so that they can work with multiple computers and require no client side software whatsoever. More info at http://cache-a.com/products.php.