Re: [ARSCLIST] Longevity of data tape?--

[Ken Hansen <k.hansen.1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

We were using Retrospect software.

On Jun 9, 2005, at 9:10 PM, John Spencer wrote:

> Ken,
>
> were you using a specific software backup application, or using
> Windows generic backup utility, or a TAR archive?
>
> John
>
> John Spencer
> www.bridgemediasolutions.com
>
>
> On Jun 9, 2005, at 7:46 PM, Ken Hansen wrote:
>
> > I also would never trust DATA backup for longer than 5 years.
> > The past two places I worked I found this out the hard way.
> > Trying to restore 5 and 8 years old data respectively yielded horrible
> > results.
> > We then implemented a policy to have all Data tapes checked and re
> > backed up to new AIT tapes with the understanding that those tapes
> > would then be checked in 5 years time.
> >
> > -Ken
> >
> > On Jun 9, 2005, at 3:47 PM, John Spencer wrote:
> >
> >
> > > This is an incorrect statement.  There are various backup
> > > applications that will skip a bad block of data and continue the
> > > restore process, as well as applications that will report on the
> > > quality of the data archive as it is being written.  Error correction
> > > is not a function of the data storage tape itself.
> > >
> > > And I would never trust a data storage tape to be readable 25-30
> > > years from now.
> > >
> > > John
> > > John Spencer
> > > www.bridgemediasolutions.com
> > >
> > >
> > > On Jun 9, 2005, at 2:36 PM, Jeffrey Kane wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > > I've seen the figure 25-30 years bandied about for data tape. Data
> > > > backups
> > > > are a double edge sword. They have better error correction so the
> > > > data is
> > > > more resilient. However, if there's an unrecoverable error it
> > > > renders ALL
> > > > data for that particular file (and if it's in the directory area,
> > > > all data
> > > > on the tape) unrecoverable. With digital audio tape the error only
> > > > affects
> > > > that portion of the recording.