Sure I've only been exposed to Auto Loaders and Tape Libraries but they just work and you have a fairly good idea that if they are stolen they will not be able to be read unlike DVD or HDD backup solutions.

I really don't see a major problem with Tape sure it could be faster in the event of a complete failure to reload the data but if that was to happen you are not going to be overly worried about the speed of the reinstall are you?

I've pulled tape out of water that been covering the machines for a couple of weeks and it wasn't clean water either but muddy flood water with God only knows what in it. I hosed out the Tapes and they all worked on the replacement hardware that we brought in to replace all the written off hardware. I actually used the last Tape backup first but as it was the second oldest it didn't have all the data on it when the water started coming in no one thought to open the Auto Loader and grab the tapes but even still it wasn't a real problem to make them usable again though I'll admit I only used them the once.

Personally until something more reliable and secure becomes available for my bigger clients tape is still the way to go. One customer insisted on using a HDD in a USB Caddy and when the data was really needed the drive was dead so it was a major problem which cost a lot of money to recover the data from. Tape on the other hand can be placed into another drive to be read and provided it's kept away from magnets it just works. I've also seen DVD Backup that where not protected properly and warped because they where left in a car in our summer. Not in direct sunlight but they still got hot enough to be useless luckily they where not important at the time or there would have been some serious damage done to the company.

I've just found tape to be far more robust in transport by the owners of the business who don't know how to protect things properly and I've yet to run into a wiped tape library because someone has done something silly. Recently I was called into my Local GP's place on a Sunday morning to rebuild their Y2K Server because the owner had plugged in a USB HDD and done something which had wiped all the data. If I remember correctly he had upgraded the Medical Program that they use there and it trashed the entire Data System though the computers worked perfectly. I had to recover the HDD and then allow them to reload the data Thankfully I had a copy of On Track on my NB and it wasn't such a big job but if I wasn't available I don't even want to think about it. OH it was a Freebie to as I was given the option of getting the data back or having the place closed down the next week and I was very politely told that I couldn't get any Meds from them without the Data. So I didn't really have a choice in that one.

Col