Magnetic tape drives give you an affordable way to store large amounts of data, offering a lower cost-per-gigabyte compared with disk-backup systems. Archiving your computer data is essential for meeting legal and auditing requirements and for recovering data in the event of computer breakdown or a disaster. Today's magnetic tape storage products can store more data and recover it faster than ever before.

Magnetic tape drive systems come in various sizes and formats, ranging from a single-drive solution that backs up around 400GB (800GB compressed) per tape to multidrive tape libraries that can store and back up dozens of terabytes of data. Magnetic tape drive vendors support several formats, including 8mm Advanced Intelligent Tape (AIT) and Super AIT (SAIT); 12.7mm Digital Linear Tape (DLT) and Super DLT (SDLT); Linear Tape-Open (LTO), available in both 8mm and half-inch; 3.8mm Digital Data Storage/Digital Audio Tape (DDS/DAT); and VXA.

When you buy a magnetic tape drive, use these key points to help you choose a product:

1. Speed of the magnetic tape drive.

2. Tape format and form factor (size of tape).

3. Amount of data the storage tape-drive device can back up on a tape (compressed or non-compressed).

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Choose a magnetic tape backup system that fits your space and storage needs

If you want to store backups on small tape cartridges, choose a magnetic tape drive system that uses helical scan technology--these are the DAT/DDS, AIT/SAIT, and VXA products. If you want to store as much data on a tape as possible, choose a storage tape drive that has a larger form factor, such as LTO or DLT.

I recommend: Cybernetics' CY-8105 AIT-5 tape drive packs a lot of data (400GB uncompressed) into a small, 3.5-inch form factor tape. If you want a larger form factor tape that backs up faster and can hold more data, consider the Tandberg LTO-4 from Tandberg Data, an LTO drive that can back up 800GB (1600GB compressed) per tape.

Look for 'green' backup tape drives

Go green. Some magnetic tape storage vendors offer energy-saving features in their products, such as partial power shutdown when the tape drive is idle.

I recommend: Quantum's LTO-4 HH tape drive has a Green Mode feature, which shuts off power to components inside the drive when it's idle or on standby. HP's Ultrium 1840 tape drive, a DAT 160 format, consumes up to 50% fewer watts per gigabyte than earlier models, according to the vendor.

Use encryption to secure your magnetic tape storage

To protect sensitive data, consider buying a tape-drive product that has built-in encryption, or buying a backup software product that encrypts data as it's backed up to your magnetic tape drive storage. Encryption encodes data on tape so that it can't be easily read. LTO-4 tape drives include built-in support for AES 256-bit encryption.

I recommend: IBM'S TS2340 tape drive is an LTO-4 product that includes encryption technology. Symantec Backup Exec 12 for Windows Servers lets you encrypt backup data as it's being sent over a network or to a storage device and also supports LTO-4 hardware encryption in magnetic tape drive manufacturers' products.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Know how much data you want to back up to help you determine the right size magnetic tape drive system to buy.
• •  Ask vendors questions about the data-restore process, such as how long a typical restore will take and what steps you'll need to perform to restore data.