Recommendations for backup (tape vs. HDD)

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We're a relatively small organization (25 users, 9 servers, everything Windows-based) and we've been using tape backup since the beginning; currently we're using Backup Exec to perform the backup.

We've been looking into getting larger devices to store data (NAS) and Backup Exec apparently has a problem with backing up those devices unless they have an O/S installed on them. This got us thinking: do we even need to back up to tape any longer? We have a 7-year data retention schedule, so perhaps we could just use hard drives and (shudder) Windows backup.

Any thoughts on this? Is it reasonable to assume that rotated external drives are adequate for backing up data reliably?

Update: A full back up is about 700 GB. Our daily incremental takes much less (of course).

Best Answer

Personally I trust tapes for long term storage more than I trust hard drives. Also, unless my math is wrong, The cost to store data on tapes is much cheaper than hard drives. I can store up to 400GB of compressed data on an LTO2 tape for $35.00 while an external hard drive with that capacity will cost roughly twice that.