Re:The 3-2-1 Backup Rule – Why Your Data Will Always Survive...
by smackeyacky on Wednesday November 24, 2021 @07:57PM
(#29337098)
For "purpose built tape tools", tar and dd are fine. tar is a bit easier to restore. If you are running Windows, well, don't run Windows as Microsoft have removed all the built-in tape stuff they used to supply with Windows Server and all the alternatives either cost money or are hideously complicated.
Debian + old HPE server + tape drive + tar. Job done.
Two important things to note:
1. LTO5 and onwards have a feature called LTFS, which allows you to address the tape as an ordinary file system. Before that, you were limited to purpose-built tape tools.
2. Generally, tapes can be read in drives 2 generations newer, and written in drives 1 generation newer. This rule was broken with LTO8, due to new tape composition. Starting here, it's 1 generation newer read/write.