Hi, 

I do not, I only have large primary disk storage pools capable of holding
about a week of backup data.
It reduces tape handling times and speeds-up some restores.
If necessary, one could expand this strategy to keep all primary backups on
disks.

Otherwise- if the disks-only solution meets your requirements
        if it meets your requirements
        if it meets your requirements
, why not go for it?

One point in question is mentioned in the article itself:
        "There's one aspect in which Dr. Koch's backup 
        system can't keep up with tape solutions: 
        storing the backup medium in another location 
        after the backup has been completed"

Another points to consider could be 
-requirement of having redundant backup copies,
-physical backup security (theft) - tapes can be in safe, large raid
probably not,
-existency of long-term backup requirements,
-labour costs - an university can afford to build such array and
 write its own backup solution by themselves, 
 but can YOU invest the time neededed?
- performance - as far as I know ATA Raid-s are notoriously much slower
comparing to scsi
- support: while an in-house solution can work for years, it can fail as
well - can you cope with it?


Just my thoughts

Juraj




-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Reiss David IT751 (ext-CDI) [mailto:david.reiss AT SIEMENS DOT COM]
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 24. April 2003 21:38
An: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Betreff: Will Hard Drives Edge Out Tape Drives?


Anybody doing anything like this with TSM:

http://www.tomshardware.com/newsletter/vol3/16/70tb.html

Just a thought... but 70 TB for $435,000 on disk sounds interesting.  Just
get some small tape libraries for making offsite copy pools.  Of course, you
would be on the bleeding edge of tech maybe.

David N. Reiss
TSM Support Engineer
david.reiss AT siemens DOT com
407-736-3912