Same here.

Our robotics are 9840 (A's) in 9710 libraries, the previous generation
before the 9940/L700 combination.

The STK robotics are incredibly elegant, fast, and reliable.
The 9840's are also rock solid and will take an incredible pounding; we have
had periods when we RUN the drives, 4 at a time, 18 hours a day for days on
end.

The 9840's I feel are equivalent to 3590's in terms of reliability &
performance.

Where I think you would see a difference in performance between the 9940 and
LTO1 is with start/stop/backhitch activities.

We have also seen some minor problems with LTO1; tapes getting stuck and the
like, but nothing that compromises data integrity.

If I were running a shop that supports TSM/HSM functions, I would argue for
the highest-end product you can buy and go with either 3590 or STK.

For a more typical TSM server with backup/recovery functions only, LTO
should be fine.

As you said, if DLT has satisfied your requirements up to now, you should be
perfectly satisified with LTO.

My opinions and no one else's,
Wanda Prather

-----Original Message-----
From: Leonard Lauria [mailto:leonard AT UKY DOT EDU]
Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2003 9:30 AM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: Re: Tape Technology Comparison


Our experience has been with 9840 (A's) and LTO gen 1 drives.  The 9840s
have
been rock solid for years, while the LTO has had more failures in the past
14 months
or so than all of our STK drives over the past 8 or so years.

The LTOs started off rough, but I must admit that lately things have
stabalized, though
we still have some oddities occur (may be SAN backup related).  I wouldn't
be concerned
with the proprietary drives from STK.

Our libraries are a STK 4410, STK 9310 (11,000 slots total) and a IBM 3584
single frame.
No problems with the robotics in any of them.

leonard

At 01:09 PM 9/30/2003 +0100, you wrote:
>Hello
>
>Anybody out there able to share their thoughts and experiences?
>
>We're doing a technology refresh on some of our libraries and have a number
>of products in the frame:
>IBM 3584 / LTO-2
>ADIC Scalar i2000 / LTO-2
>HP ESL9322 / LTO-2
>StorageTek L700e / T9940B
>
>The interesting one from my point of view is the L700e with its T9940B
>drives. The performance/capacity comparisons between LTO-2 and T9940B seem
>close enough to make no difference which leaves cost and reliability as the
>differentiators.
>
>Reliability will be an important factor in our decision and the T9940B
>seems to be marketed as a high duty cycle, 24 x 7 drive. Does anybody have
>any real world experieces in a TSM environment which suggest the T9940B is
>more (or less) reliable than LTO-2? Should I be concerned about going for a
>'proprietary' technology like 9x40 instead of an 'open' standard like LTO?
>
>Also, any thoughts on the libraries we are considering would be gratefully
>appreciated.