6.5. SAN Backup Devices
6.5.1. Tape Libraries
The device of choice for SAN backup and restore is the tape library. A tape library is a “tape hotel” that holds multiple tape cartridges and one or more drive mechanisms. Under robotic control, tapes are moved from storage slots to drives for reading and writing.
The drives in the library are typically DLT4000s, DLT7000s, DLT8000s, or HP9840s. This variety in drive types allows for tradeoffs between capacity and speed. You can have one or the other, but not both, in a drive. However, you can mix drive types in some tape libraries.
When you see tape libraries with paired numbers (such as HP’s SureStore E 2/20 or 10/180 models), the first number refers to the maximum number of drives in the unit. ...
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