HP StorageWorks DLT VS 80 40 GB 80 GB

...have here at work. The HP DLT VS80 tape drives.

Where does it fit in your network Andy?
Well, the VS80 is what is known as an internal SCSI device. Basically it is bolted into a server and appears in the same format and size as your typical CD/DVD Rom drives in your PCs. So it fits nicely into the 5.25 Inch Drive bays of most servers or PCs. The front of the Tape Drive is detachable and comes with both a beige and black front ...
...Andy?
Again, faultless. While HP do their own flavours of backup software, we use a product by Symantec called Backup exec. We originally had version 8.0 and are now running Version 10.0 The upgrade caused no issues with compatibility and the drives worked equally as well with both versions. Backup exec allows you to use the drive to its full potential so you can schedule backup jobs, perform data restores, etc.
A great accompanying ... more

As most of you may be aware, computer data is very important to most of us in out jobs today. However, what happens if that data is suddenly lost or destroyed? Well, I can tell you, we would be in a right mess!

Therfore the best method to protect yourself is to back up your computer data regularly! This is ok on your home computer as a lot of people back up their important files to memory stick, DVD or CD.
But what happens in the office where there are lots of shared files and data?

enter the data tape drive. Yes your servers at work are probably backed up onto tapes. These are not too dissimilar to your Audio tapes of a few years back. They are magnetic tapes that store large amount sof computer data on them via a tape drive.

Im going to tell you all about my reliable workhorses I have here at work. The HP DLT VS80 tape drives.

Where does it fit in your network Andy?
Well, the VS80 is what is known as an internal SCSI device. Basically it is bolted into a server and appears in the same format and size as your typical CD/DVD Rom drives in your PCs. So it fits nicely into the 5.25 Inch Drive bays of most servers or PCs. The front of the Tape Drive is detachable and comes with both a beige and black front so you can "colour code" your tape drive to fit in with your server.

Once it is slotted in and bolted to your server, you need to connect it up to the server itself via its SCSI connection. This is a multi pin connector on the back of the device that needs a large ribbon cable to connect it to the motherboard or SCSI controller. This allows data to travel between the tape drive and the server.

The power is drawn from a typical 4 pin power adapter that most computers/servers connect to CD roms with.

Level of techie knowledge....Well its not too difficult to connect it up as long as you are comfortable with opening a PC and installing devices, CD Roms, PC cards etc. It does come with a handy instruction manual and driver CD for installation help.

Whats it like in performance terms Andy?
Fantastic. I really cannot fault the drive in terms of reliability. We actually have 2 of these drives and they have always backed up our data and allowed us to restore information quickly and easily. The tapes load and unload in under 30 seconds which is good. Theres nothing worse than waiting for a drive to pop the tapes out! One thing that does detract from it is that with age, the drives do become noisy. This is due to the many moving parts becoming worn inside. Our Tape drive have been known to be in use for up to 15 hours a night so are likely to get plenty of use.

Speed is not the greatest asset of this drive compared to the latest and greatest drives as you are also at the mercy of the SCSI and data transfer speed. They do take their time to back up but you can also rest assured that they will get the job done!

What is its compatibility like with 3rd Party software Andy?
Again, faultless. While HP do their own flavours of backup software, we use a product by Symantec called Backup exec. We originally had version 8.0 and are now running Version 10.0 The upgrade caused no issues with compatibility and the drives worked equally as well with both versions. Backup exec allows you to use the drive to its full potential so you can schedule backup jobs, perform data restores, etc.
A great accompanying product for the drive.

Support from the manufacturer?
Brilliant. The knowledge base online is great and the telephone support has talked us through a couple of issues we have experiences with the Media for the drives. Always resolved our problems and very willing to help.

Storage capacity.
The tapes are able to store 40Gb of information uncompressed and 80Gb compressed. Compressed data is obviously taking longer to access but it still is a good enough storage volume for most small to medium businesses.

Prices?
Well, new these drives were varying between £350 and £500 but today can be picked up on Ebay for as little as £35. I know as i have just sold one of ours! Tapes for the drive are quite expensive and cost about £40 each. When you consider you probably need at least 5 tapes, thats £200! We found the best and most reliable tapes are the ones made by Sony.

Reason to change?
Well, I sold the drives for 1 reason. They could no longer cope with the amount of data we were storing. While we had 2 Tape drives storing 80Gb a night each, our document archive solution required more.
Therefore we decided to purchase 2 new drives from the same manufacturers. These are VS1 drives and tan hold 4 times as much data per drive. They are also much quicker and data transfer rate is greatly increased. However, 4 years on the VS80 drives were working fine and I would have no problem reccomending them to anyone loking at data storage up to 80Gb in size. 

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