HP has just made LTO5 a 1.5Tb thumb drive.

[Frank Cueto]

Is LTFS compatible across different devices/os's ?

We are very seriously considering putting one of those in here, we are debating if we want to do compressed storage on them though. Any feedback on that?

[Paul J Steinberg]

Unless I'm mistaken, this really just seems to be a GUI for LTFS management. LTFS has been around for over a year now, so it's certainly not "new." But it is nice that HP has gone through the trouble of designing a GUI for it.

Exactly. I was trying to implement LTFS on my own but it went waaaaaay past my computer knowledge. StoreOpen integrates right into Windows Explorer. You use a small utility to format a new tape when you drop it in and then all the rest is done right in Explorer, drag n' drop files on/off of it just as if it was a thumb drive. Very easy and in my correspondence with HP, it sounds like they are really keen to support the media industry with it.

[Paul J Steinberg]

They really need to make a system that doesn't need a SAS card to operate. Thunderbolt, USB 3.0 and even eSATA are all more than fast enough for this stuff. It's pretty ridiculous if you ask me.

Yeah, eating up a slot for a SAS board is a pain. eSATA or Thunderbolt (when it arrives for PC) would be nice and simple. The SAS connection has been very fast and very stable, maybe that is the simple explanation why they use it. Was easy enough to install.

[Paul J Steinberg]

Is LTFS compatible across different devices/os's ?

We are very seriously considering putting one of those in here, we are debating if we want to do compressed storage on them though. Any feedback on that?

LTFS (to the best of my knowledge) is essentially open-source and cross platform. Previously if you were using BRU to backup your data, only BRU would be able to read the tape. With LTFS you can back it up on one system (say HP StoreOpen) and read it on another LTFS system (Brand X LTFS utility). Haven't tried that but if you drop in an LTFS tape StoreOpen does read the contents and pull it up without needing to have the catalog previously saved. From there you just drag n' drop the files off the drive to where you want them.

[Simon Dunne]

I've been keeping my eye on the GB Space MiniLTO

http://www.gblabs.com/site_media/spa...ummer_2012.pdf

No need for SAS cards.....anyone used one?

[Jarek Zabczynski]

Looks similar to a Cache-A system.

[Paul J Steinberg]

I think there is a some IT hocus pocus that goes into connecting 2x ethernet lines to one machine (binding/bonding or something). SAS is a bit of a pain that it eats a slot but it was pretty simple to set up. The Cache-A Prime-Cache-5 systems looks like it supports LTFS though.

[Stivan Widick]

Not to derail this thread, but we are looking to upgrade our LTO-4 to a new LTO-5 and I'm wondering if anyone can explain the difference between the half heigh and full height external drives. For instance, why buy a HP 3280 instead of the 3000? Or is there really no difference besides price?

The 3280 has hardware encryption. I'm not aware of any other differences aside from size.

[Adam Eden]

As BRU says on its opening screen "It's not about the backup... Its all about the restore"

Dont muck around..... buy an LTO 5 drive and SAS card then install BRU. It is rock solid.

[Greg M]

+1 for BRU...best software for LTO available.