Quantum DLT-V4

This external SCSI tape drive from Quantum is meant for small to medium sized businesses. Its rated backup capability is 160 GB native and 320 GB compressed. Unfortunately, the vendor sent us a lower capacity cartridge that supported 80 GB native and 160 GB compressed data. This didn't however affect the performance in any way. 

The drive gave us an average throughput of 36.3 GB per hour. It took around 27 minutes 16 seconds to write the entire 16 GB data. The data restore took slightly longer than the backup, with the difference being only of a few seconds. Though we received a lower capacity cartridge, there was no difference in the drive's performance. In fact, it lived up to its claimed sustained transfer rate of 10 MB/s. 

On the cost front, the drive has an advantage over the HP SW 448, as it costs less than half of the HP SW

448 drive. Its recurring cost is also lower at around Rs 16 per GB. This makes it a fairly attractive option over the HP drive. 

But then their performance comparison is nothing to write home about. The HP drive beats it hands down in all performance tests. The drive comes with Backup Exec 10 backup software and two cleaning cartridges.

BOTTOM LINE: Go for this drive if you don't have the budget but need to take moderate backups, and don't mind a longer back-up window compared to the HP SW 448. RQS# E23 or SMS 131123 to 9811800601

Price: Drive-Rs.50,000, Cartridge-Rs. 2,500




Warranty:
Not specified by vendor




Cartridge type:
DLT VS1




Capacity:
160 GB Native, 320 GB Compressed 




Avg. througput:
36.3 GB/Hr




Contact:
Quantum Corporation, Bangalore. 




Tel:
23532610. Email: guna@quantum.com