i'm trying to weigh the pros and cons of recycling tapes against buying 100s of them every two months.
is it advisable to recycle tapes? if so, up to how many recycles can they be used?
Absolutely !!
See Tape durability
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_Tape-Open
Even the most aggressive usage gives 4 years of usage.
Absolutely !!
See Tape durability
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_Tape-Open
Even the most aggressive usage gives 4 years of usage.
YES!!
Tapes can be re-used/overwritten hundreds of times. (Provided that they are handled and stored as per manufacturers recommendations.)
thanks for all replies! i think we should be fine if keep maximum reuse to 48 times.
Just remember that 48 mounts in Netbackup is not equal to 48 full usages.
48 - yikes, you should get way way more than that.
Have a look at StorSentry - this will tell you when you tapes/ drives really need replacing.
The United States IRS recycles tapes. it seems to work to their advantage.
