MagStor LTO7 Desktop Tape Drive, New Feature Feedback Request

[Tim Gerhard]

Hey all,

We're still preparing the new Thunderbolt 3 version of the MagStor LTO7 Desktop Drive. A few new features are under consideration and I'd love to hear some feedback or ideas. Feel free to shoot them down too since if nobody has any need for these features, then by all means we're not going to do them.

- Up to 3x Samsung 850 PRO SSDs inside the MagStor enclosure to use the box as an external thunderbolt ssd

- Front facing 2.5" ssd/hdd sata dock to slide your own drives in and run through thunderbolt

- Front facing SD or any other card reader

 

[Simon Dunne]

If you can make a standalone unit, without the need for software, where you can plug in a front facing 2.5" SSD to back it up to LTO for field use, then i'm interested!

 

[David Johnson]

Good call, Simon. I'd be in for that. Especially battery operated. Getting ready to shoot an offshore show, need to make sure my data is secure from a full day of production.

Along the same lines, make it so you can dump to the internal SSD drives and they automatically duplicate & backup your data. If it's standalone, maybe have a redmag reader, similar to GTech?

 

[Mark K.]

To be honest Tim, I think fewer features leading to a more streamlined price for the LTO drive itself would be the most enticing approach to take. I know that there are a great many people like me out there who are kinda desperate to get LTO7 up and running with our systems, so that we have proper data backup and security for our footage. But the entry price for even a bare-bones drive, is still making it tough for a lot of people to justify.

And I know how silly that sounds when talking about something as important as safely backing up the footage we work so hard to capture. And I know how much easier we'd all sleep at night with our data on a proper archival medium like LTO. But the price barrier to entry is high, and anything you can do on that front (without compromising quality obviously), would be the most enticing way to sell the drive methinks.

 

[Tim Gerhard]

Mark,

That makes total sense. Luckily, any of these features we have will be 100% optional as they'll be modular add-ons into the empty 5.25" bay. The grim part of LTO7 pricing is that IBM is the only manufacturer and has zero competition now, so they command the prices of the drives.

With people dropping MACs for Windows or Linux based machines at least they can start using the more cost effective SAS versions. Libraries are up and coming with LTFS as well, you can get an LTO7 SAS library for less than 5-6k these days and use a $900 YoYotta MAC software package versus the normal $2500 for non-LTFS software.

 

[Simon Dunne]

I've moved from PreRoll to YoYotta.... much, much better. Still got PresStore for the big jobs, but YoYotta is a great tool to have in your arsenal