Dean,

        Both Justin and Jeff make good points. If you are required to use tape, 
the specifications for _optimum_ LTO tape life include things like:
- The operational environment must be kept at the specified temperature and 
humidity.
- The tape storage environment must be kept at the specified temperature and 
humidity.
- Transport the tapes in the proper orientation.
- Do not exceed the manufacturer's recommended number of writes.
- The tapes should be read and re-tensioned twice a year.
- Tapes cannot be dropped.

        If you follow all these rules, LTO tapes should have somewhere around a 
30 year life span. Of course, no one can follow all those rules... The 
manufacturer statements always include statements that if you violate any of 
those rules "copy the tape to a new tape and discard the original".

        I have had to go over these statements time and time again whenever 
someone says that they want us to go back and keep their data for 10 years, 20 
years, etc. I will always feed that disclaimer back to the requesting party. 
"Yes, we can do that, but we cannot guarantee the lifetime of that tape."

        As for putting them back in their case? Check the manufacturer's 
recommendations. Most of the storage/transport cases I have seen are designed 
to fit a tape that is in its plastic carrier case.

        Bryan

From: veritas-bu-bounces AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu 
[mailto:veritas-bu-bounces AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu] On Behalf Of Dean
Sent: Friday, December 20, 2013 3:57 AM
To: veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
Subject: [Veritas-bu] Shelf life of LTO tapes - with or without plastic canister

Hi folks.

The place I have recently started working at have a requirement that all 
monthly backup tapes are sent offsite to a secure storage location (similar to 
Iron Mountain), and remain there forever. I know... I hate a backup system 
being used as an archive system, but that's the way it is, for now.

The thing that surprised me is that they put all the LTO5 tapes back in the 
plastic canister they come in when they are new before they send them offsite. 
This adds a lot of time to the process of ejecting and processing these tapes 
for pickup. The whole process is outsourced to a third party, and we pay them 
by time, so I want to streamline it as much as I can.

I have worked with heaps of tape vaulting procedures over the years, and none 
of them have put tapes back in the plastic canister. Although, admittedly, none 
of them have had a "forever" retention period.

I want to convince them that storing the tapes in their original plastic 
container is not worth the amount of physical labour time it takes to do it. 
Does anyone have any evidence either way about whether storing the tapes in a 
plastic box makes any difference, considering they're being ejected from a tape 
library and put into sealed boxes in a dust-free, climate-controlled data 
centre, being transported to the "vault" in a dust-free, climate-controlled 
truck, and removed from the boxes and stored in shelves in a dust-free, 
climate-controlled vault?

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Dean
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