LTO-5 instead of LTO-6?

[Scott Pultz]

I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on an HP LTO drive. The initial price difference between LTO-5 and LTO-6 is about $750 and the media is about 2/3 the cost. From what I gather, the only major difference is tape capacity. The transfer speed is not important to me.

I'll be storing a few TB per month (one onsite and one offsite copy) so I'm leaning towards LTO-5. Is there anything that I'm missing besides tape capacity? Reliability, software support, etc?

I'll be using LTFS until Bru gets their Windows version in order.

Thanks for your advice,

Scott

 

[Todd T]

You are going to shoot more footage over time. Getting an LTO-6 drive now means you can still use cheaper LTO-5 tapes *and* you have the capability to use the higher capacity LTO-6 tapes when the need arises.

Assuming you use the drive for 5 years, it amortizes out to an additional $13 per month (Given your $750 price difference).

 

[Scott Pultz]

That is a good point. I also noticed that LTO-4 tapes are the same $/GB as LTO-6. So the smaller tapes won't necessarily be cheaper in the long run.