Conversation

Notices

1. Embed this notice
   Asta [AMP] (aud@fire.asta.lgbt)'s status on Sunday, 26-Apr-2026 07:39:28 JST Asta [AMP]

   Anyone know what a reasonable price on an LTO-5 tape drive (just the drive is), and whether a drive like this one, for example, can have the more, uh... HP specific parts shucked off to just have what would fit into a standard 5.25 inch slot with a SAS connector?
   
   https://ebay.us/m/uWbDma
   
   (HP 695111-001 AQ284B#103 LTO-5 6Gb/s SAS HH Tape Drive BL540B)
   
   I'm not specifically looking at this one, precisely, but I'm not willing to fork over 100 bucks just to find that there's no way for me to hook it up. I'd take LTO-5 or above; that's the first generation, to my understanding, that has an actual file system, which would make my life a lot easier.
   
   Boosts appreciated!
   
   #LTO5 #tapeBackup #backup #backupYourData #tapeDrives #LTO6

   • Embed this notice
     Asta [AMP] (aud@fire.asta.lgbt)'s status on Sunday, 26-Apr-2026 07:39:26 JST Asta [AMP]

     in reply to

     On this note: someone please kick my ass and make me do the bluray test I've been planning to do, where I prep a dataset + parity recovery data, burn 4 blu-ray copies with 2 burners, place two in safe, relatively controlled conditions and then place 2 in horrible shit conditions (planting them outside) and then, every month or so, test
     
     1. am I able to read the disks?
     2. if so, am I able to recover the data, and if so, how difficult is it and how much recovery data is necessary
     
     I have the hardware and media ready to go, just have lacked time/energy for it.

   • Embed this notice
     Asta [AMP] (aud@fire.asta.lgbt)'s status on Sunday, 26-Apr-2026 07:39:27 JST Asta [AMP]

     in reply to

     WELL, and then I found something that'll fit, confirmed (not as part of one of these weird shells) in the price range. Luck of the draw for you, I suppose.

   • Embed this notice
     Asta [AMP] (aud@fire.asta.lgbt)'s status on Sunday, 26-Apr-2026 07:39:27 JST Asta [AMP]

     in reply to

     But I would still be very interested in the answer to this question, if anyone knows, because I think we're currently at an age with portable media formats that if you can, you should have a supply line of backup readers/writers...

     Steve's Place repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Asta [AMP] (aud@fire.asta.lgbt)'s status on Sunday, 26-Apr-2026 07:39:28 JST Asta [AMP]

     in reply to

     There's a lot of these highly specific drive units out there, meant to slot into specific tape archival units. If they could be repurposed, that'd be great.
     
     I can find some 'normal' LTO-5/6+ drives out there, but they're running like, 600 smackers used and that is WAY more than I'm willing to spend at this time. Honestly, I just wanna get in at the 5 level, at least, due to the existence of a file system...

   • Embed this notice
     Steve's Place (steter@mastodon.stevesworld.co)'s status on Sunday, 26-Apr-2026 07:51:08 JST Steve's Place

     in reply to

     @aud Refurbished, about $300, from what I've seen. I have my doubts that this particular drive works, or works well. It may need refurbishing itself.

   • Embed this notice
     Steve's Place (steter@mastodon.stevesworld.co)'s status on Sunday, 26-Apr-2026 08:06:43 JST Steve's Place

     in reply to

     @aud I don't know about the quality of their work. You could find one you might want to use and run it by the fediverse. Others might know if they are problematic.

   • Embed this notice
     Asta [AMP] (aud@fire.asta.lgbt)'s status on Sunday, 26-Apr-2026 08:06:45 JST Asta [AMP]

     in reply to

     • Steve's Place

     @steter@mastodon.stevesworld.co Ah, thank you! For the refurbs, is there a good supplier, or do you just find them on EBay and the like?