Wanted: LTO-5 tapes (used?)

[Andrew Luke Nesbit]

On 28/09/2018 16:14, Ethan via cctalk wrote:

> Looking for used LTO-5 tapes that I can erase and add to my library
> at home for backing up spinning disk archives.

I'm designing and implementing a backup regime according to a 3-2-1
strategy.  I've never used tape before but LTO-5 was recommended to me
as being hands-down the best option for long-term backup or archival
storage.

> I can use LTO-4 as well but 5 gives the most bang for buck.

LTO-5 has been recommended to me a few times, I didn't ask too many
questions.  I thought it would be better to learn more about what it
is, and about tape backup and archiving in general so that I could
contextualize my questions and understanding better.

As it happens, I'm now seriously looking into tape.  Off the top of my
head I imagine the following things to be the potential attractions of
LTO-5:

-   Is LTO-5 somewhat of the standard by which other LTO tape systems
    are judged?

-   Is bang for the buck the primary attraction of LTO-5?

-   Is LTO-5 the best option when a priority is to use open hardware
    and open source drivers to interface the tape drive to the host?

I did some research and got the impression that HP LTO-5 Ultrium RW 3
TB cartridges are more-or-less the standard when it comes to the
actual tapes.

>From my perspective, 3 TB doesn't seem like a huge amount of storage.
Especially when, for example, a 12-disk array of 8-10 GB HDD's is
hardly uncommon.  Am I completely misinterpreting the way that tapes
are supposed to be used when making backups or archiving such an
array?  Obviously I'm not going implement an intricate differential or
incremental backup or archiving solution until I've got full backups
working properly.

Comments and opinions are well appreciated.

Andrew
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