Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

LTO-3 still the way to go?

The Quantum 600A LTO-3 drive is absolutely fantastic. We purchased one last summer and it has done everything we need it to do. The drag and drop functionality of it makes it amazingly simple to use. We've used it directly plugged into our MacBook Pro as well as with our larger machines in the studio. Since it is Gig-E, it can simply plug right into your existing network and be accessible by any computer with an internet browser, no need to install anything. You have access to every file on the tape through the Java based applet, and it's cross platform, so it's just as easy to use from either a mac or pc. We bought it primarily for archiving all our .r3d media, but since we've been waiting for our camera, we've found so many uses for this drive.
 
At NAB last year, Quantum's booth was on the same floor as RED's booth, probably 100 yards off. I talked to one of their guys about the A-series stuff and whenever I mentioned "Red" he looked at me blankly. He hadn't heard of the Red... somehow hadn't noticed the booth with the line wrapped around it. I said they should reach out to future Red owners and he was skeptical.
 
Cinewalt said:
At NAB last year, Quantum's booth was on the same floor as RED's booth, probably 100 yards off. I talked to one of their guys about the A-series stuff and whenever I mentioned "Red" he looked at me blankly. He hadn't heard of the Red... somehow hadn't noticed the booth with the line wrapped around it. I said they should reach out to future Red owners and he was skeptical.
Click to expand...
Yes, I had a similar experience 4 months ago at IBC...
The guy hadn't heard of red and didn't seem very interested.
I guess we won't see a .r3d aware version of the 600A before some time...
 
Slinnn said:
I guess we won't see a .r3d aware version of the 600A before some time...
Click to expand...

ahhhhh .... what is a ".r3d aware version" mean??

using the 600a - which you operate via a JAVA application - you can see each and every .r3d file - and you can retrieve any one file -

And Quantum is very aware of RED. Maybe not the guys standing in the booths at trade shows - but certainly the one who approached us and asked us to test some stuff:wink:
 
Yeah when Quantum says..."The 600a is MFX-aware" etc, is this just an attempt to aim at the people who need a P2 solution? Basically it will recognize in your finder just about any file you stick on those tapes correct?

The only thing I am concerned is that it can store .r3d files which Mark confirmed already and also all other files linked to my projects...ie. jpegs, tiffs, mp3, aiffs, quicktime and the list goes on and on.

As anyone had problems with corrupt data using these tapes?
 
Mark,
With ".r3d aware", I meant something similar to the MXF integration that the A-series already have.
Quote from their website :
( http://www.quantum.com/Products/TapeDrives/LTOUltrium/LTO-3A/Index.aspx )
Being content aware for MXF files enables video tape-like access to subclips by timecode and fast access to metadata stored on the tape.
Click to expand...
Having something similar for .r3D files would be very cool...

Offhollywood said:
but certainly the one who approached us and asked us to test some stuff:wink:
Click to expand...
Hmmm... Now you got me interested.:shifty:
I suppose you won't tell us what kind of stuff ?

Does that mean that people (like me) thinking about buying an LTO3-A drive should wait a bit more before ordering one ???

Thanks,
Nils.
 
Also, what I don't understand :
If you reccord files with an LTO3-A series drive (ethernet based), will you be able to read the LTO tape you created with any LTO3 drive (SCSI, etc...), or has it to be a similar drive ?
Are there any compatibility issues ?

Nils.
 
Haskell said:
Yeah when Quantum says..."The 600a is MFX-aware" etc, is this just an attempt to aim at the people who need a P2 solution? Basically it will recognize in your finder just about any file you stick on those tapes correct?

The only thing I am concerned is that it can store .r3d files which Mark confirmed already and also all other files linked to my projects...ie. jpegs, tiffs, mp3, aiffs, quicktime and the list goes on and on.

As anyone had problems with corrupt data using these tapes?
Click to expand...

any file type - it will appear the same way it appears in finder - DPX, JPEG, etc. etc. etc.
 
Slinnn said:
Hmmm... Now you got me interested.:shifty:
I suppose you won't tell us what kind of stuff ?

Does that mean that people (like me) thinking about buying an LTO3-A drive should wait a bit more before ordering one ???

Thanks,
Nils.
Click to expand...

Well Nils ... we bought the LTO3 600A drive ourselves - does that help? That is the unit we tested hardcore with .r3d files.
 
Thanks Mark.
It helps.:)
And it's good to know that Quantum is somehow interested in Red.

I'll wait a few more months anyway until I get my camera, maybe we'll see something new at NAB...
The LTO3 600A is what I'm looking for, it just seems a bit overpriced compared to any other LTO3 drive...

Nils.
 
Blu-ray seems it could be a decent way to deliver to an editor as a back up, HDD being the primary source. Blu-ray also seems like it will be around for a while, but who knows.

If I owned a 600a I would just hope quantum is going to be around long enough to support me when I have some Hardware issues 20 to 30 years down the road. I suppose by then you would have migrated your data to your holographic ball point pen.

If Quantum is listening then I suppose they are interested to make there drive more RED-aware as far as meta data goes...possibly just a software upgrade.
 
Slinnn said:
Also, what I don't understand :
If you reccord files with an LTO3-A series drive (ethernet based), will you be able to read the LTO tape you created with any LTO3 drive (SCSI, etc...), or has it to be a similar drive ?
Are there any compatibility issues ?
Click to expand...

Great question. I'd like to know the answer to this as well.

PlasterCity uses the 600A as well, which would make things convenient for me over here on the west coast.

Mark, next time I'm in NY I definitely need to stop by and check out your digs. You have a for sure future client in me!
 
kenn michael said:
Great question. I'd like to know the answer to this as well.

PlasterCity uses the 600A as well, which would make things convenient for me over here on the west coast.

Mark, next time I'm in NY I definitely need to stop by and check out your digs. You have a for sure future client in me!
Click to expand...
again, my understanding is that LTO3 tapes created on a A Series drives are NOT compatible with non A series drives.
 
So far using this tape drive has been relatively pleasant. It is easy to hook up and you configure with a java enabled web browser. I don't think you need a crossover cable even if you are connected directly to the computer. I think the card in the unit will autosense whatever you use.

The data transfer is fast. It has been as fast as my transfers directly to hard drive from the cf. The only thing that so far has been a bit of a downer is that there seems to be a bit of tape shuttle. Now this is normal for a tape drive, but I'm just not used to tape drives. If you put 100 gigs on a tape and then come back to put more on it, you will have to be patient with it so it can cue up the tape to the correct position. I have had to wait over a minute for it to cue correctly, but once it starts to transfer data, it is fast.

It's also not something for using while shooting. The thing is loud, especially while shuttling the tape around. But at the end of the day, I think an overnight backup is just what the doctor ordered. Now the only real downer is that it costs 10k, but if you want professional gear, then you have to pay the piper. I really don't think 10k is that much when you factor in the capabilities and ease of use of the drive. Oh BTW if you edit with an Avid, then the MXF capabilities are the bomb. You can even mount the drive as a network drive and skip the web browser altogether, if you know what you are doing.

Chris
 
Haskell said:
Blu-ray seems it could be a decent way to deliver to an editor as a back up, HDD being the primary source. Blu-ray also seems like it will be around for a while, but who knows.

If I owned a 600a I would just hope quantum is going to be around long enough to support me when I have some Hardware issues 20 to 30 years down the road. I suppose by then you would have migrated your data to your holographic ball point pen.

If Quantum is listening then I suppose they are interested to make there drive more RED-aware as far as meta data goes...possibly just a software upgrade.
Click to expand...

Two words: Disc rot. There has already been reports of replicated discs (I believe Blue-ray) having disc rot.

I still believe that tape is a better option. Yes, it's more expensive to start out with, but price per GB right now is much lower, and the write speed is night and day different.

Matthew
 
LTO-3 on a G4

LTO-3 on a G4

Just finished testing an LTO-3 tape back up on my old G4.

Back in the days of Cinewave and ultra3 scsi, I spent a small fortune building a terabyte RAID system. I thought, why not revive the old beast as a back-up station. So I dusted off my old ATTO UL3D and SCSI cables, ordered a bare quantum LTO drive(about $1600) and a scsi-3 enclosure with terminator (about $90). Hooked everything up, loaded the ATTO drivers and everything runs well(10.5 Leopard). I used Retrospect Desktop Edition and tested another product. Both work well so far.

Dave
 
Just a couple words of warning guys, it may sound obvious but well I have over 2500 LTO-3 tapes(just over a petabyte) in my vault, and they can be persnickity things. So here it goes.


1. Make two LTO backups just do it .it will save your ass.
2. Don't trust the damn machine it will eat your tape (refer to #1)
3. Have 2 backup LTO machines they're cheap enough and #2 will happen.
4. Remember these are not tape decks they're not designed for multiple I/O's they won't love you for it and #2 will happen.
5. Use in this order if possible Linux Tar Maps, Retrospect, or Bru most facilities will have a way to get data off any of those tapes for when you ignored #3.

best of luck guys.
 
Jeff Brue said:
Just a couple words of warning guys, it may sound obvious but well I have over 2500 LTO-3 tapes(just over a petabyte) in my vault, and they can be persnickity things. So here it goes.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the post, Jeff. The specs mention that the tapes can last 30+ years, but they don't mention anything about tape-eating monsters, incompatibilities, etc.

So after 2500 tapes, how much data have you lost? And if you were able to get a new system today, what would you get? LTO-3 or something else?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top