Alex.vision Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 So I have been on the fence for a few weeks over whether or not to buy a tape back up solution for my unraid. I have 11 4TB drives with mostly media and computer backups. I also use it as a backup of my works SCADA system and our sql database(I'm a Water Treatment Plant Operator). Currently I have no protection at all. I'm running these drives on a Server 2012 computer using StableBits DrivePool software. I migrated to this from UnRaid as a temporary measure after my roommate unplugged my older 15 2TB Unraid server during a parity rebuild (because it was making too much noise). After coming back online with many problems and needing to replace over half of the drives I decided to build a new sever with 4TB drives. Well this temporary server has now been running for almost 18 months with no protection. I know I know, bad idea. So know I'm ready to begin the process of migrating back to unRaid. UnRaid is not a backup solution, and I made a choice when looking for other options as far as backing up my entire array. Most of my files are media, and follow the basics of WORM. write once and read many. So I was trying to decide if I wanted to build an entirely separate Unraid setup. It seemed to me having two complete copies of all of my data and parities was redundant. At least as far as two computers, Two sets of all my hdds. Not to mention that when my array grew I would also have to expand my backup. Another issue I foresaw was having both servers in the same house. While we don't have any real chance of flooding (I Live on a small island) we could have fires (been through that once already, lost everything) thefts, earthquakes and other natural disasters. So having the backup server in a separate geographical location would have been ideal. Yet my internet is aDSL and my upload is around 50kbps. So that's out. So I had to come up with another solution. After weighing the pros and cons I finally settled on a tape backup system. A quantum LTO-6 tape drive. http://www.backupworks.com/quantum-LTO-6-Drive-internal-bundle-TC-L62AN-EZ-C.aspx THE PROS:: Massive storage size per tape. Up to 6.25TB. Reasonable speed writing from my consumer grade HDD over my gigabit nic. Cheap media ~$34-45 per cassette. Tape medias long storage lifespan. THE CONS: Incredibly expensive initial cost. (At least for me) $2000 bucks. I could buy 14 4TB drives for that. File management and de-duplication. PITA to do incremental backups (I have no real experience with tape backups so I could be wrong on this. My first and last tape backup drive was 15 years ago when I was in high school). So, I have decided that when I migrate my data to the new UnRaid server I will fill each drive as much as possible (leaving some headroom because I remember from somewhere that UnRaid likes about 10% free space on all drives or performance suffers). With most of the data being static WORM I can then make a backup of it to tape (hopefully encrypted though again no experience). Then I can send the tapes to a budy of mine who lives a few miles away on another island. With the tapes being small and relatively cheap it should be a problem to make a complete backup and store it. My largest gripe is with the cost. I was on the fence for a while. But yesterday I made the purchase and now I can't wait for it to get here. I'm worried that now I have a viable backup strategy my disks are going to fail before I can copy them. Ha. As far as the cost goes, I'm hoping my work will help cover the cost as I'm thinking that once I'm done with my initial backup, it may take up a more permanent residence there to backup our mission critical stuff. Our IT infrastructure at work is abysmal. My home network is larger faster and better protected from disaster then my work is. This maybe a great solution to my storage needs and I just thought I would share my experience so far. I don't know of too many people using something like this along side UnRaid so I am hoping there is some interest. I'm curious if anyone has thoughts on this. Have I made a huge mistake or was this a good choice? -Alex Quote Link to comment
Chris Pollard Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Expect to get 2.5TB per tape if you have mostly media on your server since it mostly will not compress. I did look at this myself and decided the cost was too great compared to just buying drives and shipping them off site. Quote Link to comment
Alex.vision Posted July 2, 2015 Author Share Posted July 2, 2015 I also discovered this, after I purchased the drive. Oh well. I have about 30TB of media and the rest is computer backups, programs and documents. So even if the media isn't compressible I can back up the other stuff hopefully with compression. If I lose the media that's ok. I can just re-rip most of it, as time consuming as that would be. I would be happy to just have a backup of my other non media stuff. Even without compression I can back up the whole thing for about $544 in on 17 tapes. Quote Link to comment
archedraft Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 after my roommate unplugged my older 15 2TB Unraid server during a parity rebuild (because it was making too much noise). I hope you pushed him down some stairs... I'm only half joking. Quote Link to comment
Alex.vision Posted July 2, 2015 Author Share Posted July 2, 2015 after my roommate unplugged my older 15 2TB Unraid server during a parity rebuild (because it was making too much noise). I hope you pushed him down some stairs... I'm only half joking. I would have loved to, but he didn't really think it would be a problem. He was sick and trying to sleep on the couch and the server was in the living room temporarily. So in his NyQuil addled state he just unplugged it. Ouch Quote Link to comment
archedraft Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 after my roommate unplugged my older 15 2TB Unraid server during a parity rebuild (because it was making too much noise). I hope you pushed him down some stairs... I'm only half joking. I would have loved to, but he didn't really think it would be a problem. He was sick and trying to sleep on the couch and the server was in the living room temporarily. So in his NyQuil addled state he just unplugged it. Ouch I hear what you're saying but I think the key was he didn't really think. Quote Link to comment
Alex.vision Posted July 2, 2015 Author Share Posted July 2, 2015 Too true. I would totally agree. Which is why two weeks ago when I was the best man at his wedding my toast was scathing. J/k Quote Link to comment
johnny121b Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 I looked into tape drives but couldn't justify the enormous initial cost PLUS the creation of a single point of failure. If the uber-expensive tape drive FAILS or is damaged by the same circumstance that creates the need for restoration (thinking lightning, fire, theft, server falling face-first onto the floor....etc.), you have no way to restore anything. All that, for me, equals a big "NOPE" for tape drive$$$ External hard drives' prices are typically lower than internal drives. And while I detest their slimming warranties and mysterious/unknown internals, that fear is balanced out by the realization that they don't have to perform 24/7. They only need to work during backups and during the restore, and I handle them like dynamite, in hopes they will be there if/when I need them. Quote Link to comment
DivideBy0 Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 Alex how did you setup / configure the LTO-6 tape drive in unRaid? I want the same setup Quote Link to comment
sota Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 See signature for link to alternative to tape. Quote Link to comment
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