IBM 2U LTO Generation 3 Tape Autoloader 3362 Model 2LX

Advantages: Fast
Disadvantages: Cost

.... More of this later. In the world of IT there are a few considerations when it comes to storage media: 1) How much space do you need? 2) How long will it take to back it up? 3) How long will it take to restore it? 4) How easy is it to use? 5) How reliable is it? 6) How much does it cost? Space: ******** One of the biggest concerns is how much data you need to store. There is no point in having a 400GB storage tape if you only need to store 10GB. Likewise if you need to store over 300GB there is no point in having 30/40 tapes, which need somebody to change them every 10 minutes. Time: ******* This ties in with the space issue a fair bit. The bigger the amount of data you need to store the longer it's going to take to backup. The longer you take to back it up the longer the system is potentially unusable (A good few... Read review

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Advantages: Quite a fast drive.
Disadvantages: One of the "Deathstar" drives.

...Whether you are thinking of buying this drive (2nd hand, most likely as it's a couple of years old) or own one of IBM's 60GXP, 75GXP or 120GXP models, read on for important information about issues with these drives and fixing them. ** THE DRIVE ** Capacity: 40 GB (38.3 GB as reported in windows) Rotational Speed: 7200 RPM Interface: ATA-100 Average seek time: 8.5 ms It's a fast enough drive. It seems to perform quite a bit better than the 5400 rpm 45 GB Western Digital drive I had, it's quite a bit quieter and this one's not dead ... yet. ** BORROWING NAMES FROM STAR WARS ** The main reason I thought I'd write a review on this drive, is to hopefully help a few others who have this or one of the other 60GXP, 75GXP or 120GXP models (as I've read these are equally affected). It didn't take long for a lot of people... Read review

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Advantages: Very versatile mid range server
Disadvantages: support web site can be awkward to navigate

...and and 4 143GB 15K disks for the data configured as RAID5 (with the addition of an IBM 7k RAID card) with a hot spare. This gives a 73GB OS partition which should be ample for most SBS installations including the exchange store. I tend to find that most SBS base builds come to about 20GB once everything is installed. This leaves just over 50GB for the exchange store and page file. The data partition would then be about 250GB which should be ample for most SMB's. Inside the server is just as good and as this model has the dual power supplies installed I would imagine it also comes with 6 cooling fans. If you see a cheaper price for the same model make sure it has dual supplies. There is a thick perspex cover directing air from 2 of the fans over the CPU and memory slots whilst two fans at the bottom suck air through the hard drive bays... Read review

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