What is the best tapes work with Symantec backup exec 2014 in price/performance

[msolyman22]

Hello guys, 

I need help to know What is the best tapes work with Symantec backup exec 2014 in price/performance? 

please share your experience.

[CraigV]

...how long is a piece of string?

THis isn't a price/performance question. How big is the data you're expected to back up, and how much do you expect this data to grow over the warranty period you select for your drive?

Make sure that whatever you select is on the BE 2014 HCL, and check below for that:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=tech214803

I've always preferred HP tape drives, but that's a matter of opinion.

Thanks!

[msolyman22]

Thank you so much Craig for your respond, 

Its a small company doenst have alot of data, I dont know it wasnt me who got the drive that rurring now, How to know my warranty period of it?

Please advice me, 

Thank you.

[Larry_Fine · Accepted solution]

If you are new to the tape industry, I strongly suggest an LTO drive from one of the major vendors.  Your choice of generation (LTO1-LTO6) and choice of interface (probably SAS, but could be FC, USB or pSCSI) is a balancing act between your needs and your budget.

The newer generation drives have a much higher capacity, but only you know if you need that.  The newer drives can be faster, but you must have a beefy system that can feed data at those high speeds if you want to benefit.

You should also consider if you want a single stand-alone tape drive or if you want a robotic library.  A smail robotic library (1 drive, 8 tape slots) offers an incredible power and flexibility for not much higher cost than a single drive.

Without knowing anything more about your needs, I would GUESS that you MIGHT want an LTO5 drive in an 8 slot robotic library with a SAS interface.

To determine your warranty you need to determine what tape drive you have, where it was obtained and when it was obtained.

[CraigV]

...so the tape drive exists. If it is something branded like Dell, HP or IBM for instance, you can do a search for that manufacturer's warranty site. Once you get there, put in the serial # of the drive and it will return the warranty and period of the drive.

Otherwise, if you had to purchase a new tape drive, you need to check the size of your data you want to back up as I said. Choose your connectivity method as mentioned below, and make sure you have the correct card to connect too and you're good to go.

Thanks!