Preventing Tape Drive Failure
Contrary to popular belief, tape drives are generally robust and reliable. However, there are three common mistakes that people make that dramatically increase the probability of tape drive failure.
Firstly, it is not well known that tape drives is differ considerably in terms of how long they are designed to operate each day. Each tape drive range has a specified duty cycle, which is the maximum percentage of time that the drive should be operational. For example, a drive with a duty cycle of 50% should be operational for no more than 12 hours a day, while a drive with a duty cycle of 100% may run continuously.
Secondly, it is not well known that data must be supplied to tape drives at a sufficient rate in order to keep them streaming, or else the tape suffers from start-stop motion. It's easy to imagine the wear-and-tear this places on the tape, and how the integrity of the data stored on the tape can be severely degraded.
Thirdly, poor handling and storage commonly causes damage to tapes and the drive. It's not a good idea to drop tapes or stack them in a pyramid on the floor; the tapes should be handled and stored carefully. Tape drives should be kept as far away from contaminants as possible; for example, they shouldn't be placed directly on the carpet or kept in dusty environments.
Tapes should always be stored in a different location to the server, in order to prevent a disaster that damages the server from also damaging the backups on tape. At the very least, weekly tapes should be stored offsite. To reduce the chance of fire damage or theft, tapes should be stored in a fireproof safe.
By following these simple tips, your tape backups should run reliably, and you'll avoid the costly exercise of replacing your tape drive.
Linus Chang is a backup expert and the lead developer of BackupAssist -- tape backup software that is simple and affordable, and perfect for small and medium businesses. Protect your Windows servers, including SQL Server and Exchange Server, to tape, REV drive, hard drive, NAS and more, at a fraction of the cost of other backup software.
Latest News
Lenovo Offers Hardware-Based Security In ThinkPad Laptop InformationWeek, NY - By Antone Gonsalves Lenovo on Monday introduced a business notebook with hardware-based security, made possible through a partnership with Intel and ... |
Fitch: US Consumer Products Sector To Face Challenges in 2009 MarketWatch - Appliances, Home, Hardware and Tools: Credit protection metrics for this sector are trending negative. 2009 will be extremely difficult with expected ... Fitch Enhances US RMBS Surveillance with Launch of 'RMBS Loss Metrics' |
WARP allows DX10 graphics without GPU hardware Electronista, CA - Windows 7 promises to bring with it a pair of programs that will enable users to process Direct3D 10 graphics on Direct3D 9 hardware as well as processing ... Microsoft's WARP10 Will Let You Run DX10 on CPUs, Crysis at 7 FPS Windows 7: Play Crysis Without a GPU |
More Reliable X360 Hardware Launches Gamespy.com, CA - 1, 2008 Venture Beat's Dean Takahashi has written an article which suggests Microsoft has finally released its new Xbox 360 "Jasper" hardware. ... Xbox 360 Jasper Revision Caught in the Wild Getting a new Xbox 360? Make sure it answers to "Jasper" |
3FN Ups Hardware Swap Capability Web Host Industry Review - Partner with DataPipe – Improve your ROI - Extend your IT resources "Hardware monitoring and replacement services can be the key criteria for successful web ... HostNine Re-Launches New Website |
East Longmeadow Hardware Store Robbed WSHM-TV, MA - By Liz Tufts Employees at the Rocky's Hardware store on North Main Street in East Longmeadow were closing up for the night on Sunday, when they got the ... • Police probe East Longmeadow hardware store robbery East Longmeadow Store Robbed |
Research and Markets: The IT Market in Malaysia Report Can Help IT ... MarketWatch - Further, the overall IT market is segmented into software, hardware, services and communication for the years 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. ... |
Apple adds DMCA charge to Psystar suit ZDNet - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, in a Hardware 2.0 blog entry, posts excerpts of Apple’s amended complaint, highlighting Psystar’s inclusion of an OS X “restore ... Apple adds DMCA charge to lawsuit against Psystar Apple adds DMCA charge to complaint against Psystar Feds Considering DMCA Anti-Circumvention Exemptions |
StudioDave Does A Hardware Review And Meets Ubuntu 8.10 Linux Journal - That machine's audio capabilities were negligible even with external hardware, but it had been serviceable for writing articles and as a portable MIDI ... |
 SlashGear | Are you ready for Linux? San Jose Mercury News, USA - Some versions, like DSL Linux, are compact and fast, and thus able to run on minimal hardware, including that old 486 PC or Mac you've got stashed in the ... Browser swallows OS gOS Cloud: browser-based OS for Netbooks Good OS Announces Cloud |
Resources
-
All Computer Wholesale, PC Wholesale, Reseller, Wholesaler
Buy computers, software, Hardware, games and accessories from real wholesale companies, be a computer reseller!