[geeks] tape backup, revisited

[Sridhar Ayengar]

Micah R Ledbetter wrote:
>> ...And in fact, I just found LTO-2 tapes for $28 at another vendor
>> ($140/terabyte) and LTO-3 tapes (400GB native capacity, uncompressed)
>> for $45, which is about $112.50 per terabyte.  And the vendor offers
>> volume discounts off *that*.
> 
> Wow. How expensive are the tape drives?
> 
> I've always thought that tape was pretty cool just because you could  
> have a ROBOT[0] to load your library for you :). Never had one, though.

Actually, I'm wondering something else.

I read somewhere some time ago that Quantum pushed the LTO consortium to 
design the spec for Ultrium drives to make it easier for changer 
manufacturers to convert their existing DLT changers for LTO.  Is this 
something someone can do on their own?  I have a couple of older DEC 
7-slot changers that currently contain DLT8000 drives, but if I could 
replace the drives with LTO-3 drives, I would be a very happy man.

Peace...  Sridhar