Unfortunately, this is almost a no-brainer: 10 GB per cartridge vs. perhaps
200 GB per cartridge.  Unless you really need sub 20 second access to data,
you almost have to go LTO.  Magstar is not cost effective given the 20X
increase in capacity with LTO.

We've seen mount times of about 40 seconds.  I've not personally seen
time-to-data so I can't comment on that.  I would guess it will be in the
one to two minute range.  Once on data, it should be pretty fast with the
expected stop/start time caveats if the data is highly fragmented on the
tape.

I'm about 80% go on LTO in almost all situations.  If you are not tied
specifically to an IBM product, take a look at AIT libraries from Qualstar.
Qualstar also has LTO libraries that might fit your needs.  Qualstar is
using HP LTO drives rather than IBM drives.  This is primarily due to the
greater heat generated by the IBM product, or so I'm told.

I've seen and played with both the IBM 3583 and 3584.  I really liked the
3584.  Excellent expansion capability and from what I can tell, fairly
economical.  And I love the 3494 and the 3584 is very similar.

I think it's time to let your Magstar die.

Kelly J. Lipp
Storage Solutions Specialists, Inc.
PO Box 51313
Colorado Springs CO 80949-1313
(719) 531-5926
Fax: (240) 539-7175
Email: lipp AT storsol DOT com or lipp AT storserver DOT com
www.storsol.com
www.storserver.com