Test bench
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Will the backup drive work with a wide range of hardware? What drivers are available?
Futureproofing
Does the backup drive have the capacity and the right interfaces to expand with your needs over time?
ROI
Does the speed and capacity of the drive justify the cost?
Service
What warranties and service contracts are available?
How we tested
We used a Hallmark server to test the units with the following configuration:
- Windows Server 2003
- Intel SE7501BR2 motherboard
- Dual 3.06GHz Xeon processors
- 1GB of memory
- Five Seagate Cheetah Ultra 320 SCSI 36.7GB hard drives in a RAID 5 configuration using an Adaptec RAID 2120S controller.
We used the motherboard's integrated Ultra 320 SCSI interface to test the Overland, Quantum and Tandberg tape backup units, and a Qlogic QLA 2300 Fibre Channel adaptor for the IBM tape backup unit.
Even though the Hallmark server was reasonably powerful, it nevertheless failed to saturate the faster tape backup units with data during backup. The compressed backup test came close, but the uncompressed and mixed tests were a long way short of the vendors' quoted maximum transfer rates. We could have improved the uncompressed transfer rates by devising a test with a relatively small number of very large files, which would have been a much easier task for the Hallmark's RAID array to pump out to the backup units. However, the data we used was actually legitimate company data that would be typical of many backup tasks carried out by our readers.
Test results
Sample scenario
Company: B&M Plastics. This company's storage needs have been expanding and needs a new tape drive to back up about one terabyte of storage across several servers.
Approximate budget: Open.
Requires: One high-speed, high-capacity tape backup drive.
Concerns: The backup window for the servers is relatively short, so the company is looking for a product that is fast and has high capacities. Given the relatively small amount of data to be backed up, a single drive is preferred to an autoloader. While the capacity of tapes is important, the overall running cost of maintaining a tape library will also be taken into consideration.
Best solution: The Overland drive provides good backup speeds and high data capacities at a very reasonable price and would best suit the needs of this company.
Editor's Choice
Editor's choice: Overland C7380
Highly commended: IBM TotalStorage 3592
While the IBM was the fastest drive in this comparison (and could have been faster if both Fibre Channel ports were used), at $55,000 it's not for those on a budget. Sure, you can never put a price on your data, but we think the Overland drive provides better value for all but the most demanding enterprise applications. At just over $10,000, and with tapes costing about half as much as the IBM, the Overland provides top performance and a reliable way to safeguard your data.
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