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Michael
Asked: 2011-01-12 15:32:46 +0800 CST

what are you using to store your LTO3 tapes?

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I have about 50-75 LTO3 tapes stacked in my server room. Does anyone have any creative solutions on how to properly store them so they're easily accessed?

All the LTO3 cabinets I see are thousands of dollars, which seems overpriced to me.

tape lto-3

5 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Not really creative, but you might want to consider a fireproof safe (preferably as far away from the server room as possible).

    This is budget and location dependant, but companies exist that will store your backup tapes offsite and bring you the relevant ones for changing each (day|week|month) and will courier them to you in the event of an emergency situation.

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  2. Take a look at some of the consumer media racks. Some of those will work with LTO cartridges and are a whole lot cheaper than the "professional" racks. They're basically just book cases with a lot of shelves. One with the shelves tilting back a little would probably be nicer because they won't fall out if you bump one.

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  3. I once made a rack that attached to the side of one of the server racks. It looked and worked much like those used for cigarette packets and the like seen in many stores. The added bonus was that it provided automatic tape cycling, with the one being required being pulled out of the bottom and the old one being placed back on the top of the stack. Of course there's no reason such a rack couldn't be built or placed into something else, such as a fire rated safe.

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  4. There was something that someone told me they used years ago. I want to say old ice trays (you know from before the fridge had ice in the door). Cut out (or otherwise remove) the long divider and the tapes should rest easily in the tray standing up right. The tapes should be about the same width as the ice cube openings are.

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  5. We now use an offsite, fireproof, data-rated safe as suggested above, but in a previous job, we used a secure offsite data storage service.

    We had 4 big plastic storage tubs, with 20 tapes in each tub, eg, an autoloader's worth. we swapped them out once a week in a 4 week rotation. We had the option of transporting the tapes ourselves, or Chubb would turn up and do it for us.

    This worked pretty well, assuming you trust whoever's transporting the tapes for you (or you do it yourself.)

    The plastic tubs kept the tapes relatively dust free, too.

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