A short introduction about backup storage solutions from Richard Warburton at the Symply Booth on IBC 2024. He tells us about the pros and cons of the different storage media like HD, SSD, Cloud and LTO Tape.
And why DLT Tape is the best and cheapest choice for longtime data archival. If you want a deeper dive into this topic, watch the long Interview with Richard.
LTO: Still the Most Boringly Reliable Backup
Richard Warburton, Director of Product at Symply, wants to remind creatives of something we used to take for granted: backups should last. And most don’t.
In this detailed breakdown from industry shows and talks, Warburton explains why your stack of “archived” drives in a cupboard is not an archive. “Most people just spin them up, see if they power on, and assume the data’s fine,” he says. It often isn’t. Bit rot, magnetic decay, and unverified file copies are common and mostly invisible, until a file won’t open or a shot goes missing.
How Storage Actually Works (and Fails)
Hard drives (HDDs) store data via magnetic polarity on glass platters. Over time, if not powered and monitored, these polarities weaken. That can mean corrupted frames, glitched audio, or dead folders. Solid state drives (SSDs), while faster, are no better for long-term retention. SSD flash cells lose charge if left unpowered for long periods, often silently and irreversibly. According to Warburton, “SSDs and HDDs are built for active production. They’re not designed for sitting on a shelf for ten years.”
LTO Tape: The Magnetic Comeback
The solution Warburton recommends is not new, sexy, or trendy. It’s magnetic tape, specifically LTO (Linear Tape Open). Developed as an open standard in 2000, LTO is now in its ninth and tenth generations. Its key selling point? Reliability.
LTO-9 tapes store 18 TB uncompressed, offer 30-year rated shelf life, and cost just over £100 per cartridge. Tape also inherently resists ransomware and malware, since it isn’t networked or mounted unless you specifically connect it, providing a physical air gap between production and archive.
Speed and Misconceptions
“Tape is not slow,” Warburton insists. A full-height LTO-9 drive writes at up to 400 MB/s, faster than most single HDDs. And unlike cloud or remote backup, the performance is local and predictable. He clarifies that tape is linear, not random access: “You’ll never work directly off a tape, and you shouldn’t try. It’s the digital negative you go back to.” Tape’s job is to take over once a shoot wraps. Copy your camera originals to tape first—then do whatever you like with SSDs, RAIDs, or the cloud.
LTO-10: Symply Goes First
Symply is now shipping the first LTO-10 desktop and rackmount drives in the world. The Key specs:30 TB uncompressed, 75 TB compressed per cartridge, with up to 400 MB/s read/write speed on full-height drives. But there is no backward compatibility: LTO-10 drives only read LTO-10 media. Models include the SymplyPRO Ethernet, SymplyPRO Thunderbolt, and its libraries, offering 10Gb Ethernet, Thunderbolt, SAS, and Fibre Channel options.
Pricing starts at: $11,995, the tape media itself is still under £110 per cartridge in the UK, for example. IN Germany, you’ll pay somewhere around 200€ for a 30TB native/75TB Compressed tape.
Migration Reality Check
Yes, tape migration is a thing. New LTO generations typically support only one or two generations of backwards reading. LTO-10 broke this trend: it reads LTO-10 only. But Symply advises long-term users to factor this in every 10–15 years. Tape consolidation helps: LTO-9 (18 TB) holds three LTO-7 (6 TB) tapes’ worth of data. LTO-10 increases that even further. Planning periodic migrations lets users reduce storage volume and improve redundancy while maintaining access. And also always a great timing to check the backups.
Cloud Storage: Not a Silver Bullet
Warburton is careful not to bash cloud services,but flags their limits. Cloud is great for offsite backup and disaster recovery. It’s flexible, scalable, and avoids up-front costs. But it is also ongoing, uncontrollable cost. “You don’t own the infrastructure. You’re trusting someone else with your data,” he says. Bandwidth, outages, security, and pricing models are all external risks. “It’s not that the cloud is bad, it’s just not a long-term archive by default.”
Smart Workflow: Tape and Everything Else
Symply’s advice is not to throw out your drives or cloud accounts. It’s to understand where each storage tier fits. SSDs and RAIDs are for working media. Cloud is for duplication or offsite continuity. But tape remains the only medium designed to last decades, offline, on a shelf, and still readable (if you plan for it). Warburton puts it plainly: “People need to understand their storage like they understand their cameras or edit software. What are you using, why, and how long does it need to last?”
