Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!helios!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!seismo!uunet!drivax!braun From: braun@dri.com (Kral) Newsgroups: comp.unix.admin Subject: Re: Reliability Exabyte tapes Message-ID: Date: 28 Feb 91 16:47:51 GMT References: <3235@canisius.UUCP> <7HKYJ54@dri.com> <1991Feb27.191216.5859@sobeco.com> Organization: Digital Research Inc Lines: 21 In article <1991Feb27.191216.5859@sobeco.com> sdesmara@sobeco.com (s.desmarais) writes: >Speaking of reliability, I'd like to know what is the reliability and the >durability of the exabyte media. What will happen in 15 years when I want >to restore files from exabytes? (Recently, we restored a 14 years old file >from a 9-track tape.) My advice: you should always "check" any wound, streaming magnetic media at least every 24 months. By this I mean at least rewinding the tape, but possibly rewriting it as well. Otherwise, you stand the chance of the data bleeding onto the next layer of tape and causing parity problems. Yes, I've recovered data off of 7 year old 9 track tapes. I've also had unrecoverable parity errors on 2 year old tape. I suspect the 8mm media hasn't been around long enough to establish any kind of track record, so we play it safe and plan on rewriting tapes every 24 months. -- kral * 408/647-6112 * ...!uunet!drivax!braun * braun@dri.com The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny ..." -- Isaac Asimov