Exabyte: Please SEND a summary. Tapes.

[John A. Johnston]

Over the past few months there have been several requests and mini-
discussion on who uses what TAPE brand for an Exabyte drive for backing
up their systems etc. etc.

Issues of concern have been: 
    what will work?
    what is best?
    what will work best for less? ** a most important factor anywhere
    what will work for cheap?
    brands: sony, exabyte etc.
    tape life: physical wear & tear.
    data life: how long will the data last on tapes.

We will want better tapes for: 
    daily backup: 30 workstations worth of data to two server
    exabytes at night [tape life], and monthly backup [data life].

Lesser tapes for:
    distribution:  we send of large files (~300Mbytes) to various
    places on a weekly basis [what works fo cheap] and don't really
    expect to see the tapes again for a while.

We are presently experimenting with several brands, but if any
references or summaries of previous research (University, individual,
Lab, or Magazine) would be appreciated.  Sorry if this is a beaten to
death subject.

Thanks,
-johnj