Sony SDT-11000 DDS-4

The DDS-4 technology is one rung lower than the AITs, DLTs and DATs. Sony’s DDS-4 drive has a native backup capacity of 20 GB and transfer rates of less than 10 GB/hr. These specifications make it suitable for small offices having very low backup requirements such as for entry-level servers, workstations, and small workgroups. 

In our tests, the measured normal backup, stream backup and restoration transfer rates were close to the drive’s rated speed of 8.4GB/hr. It didn’t however give any data compression, just like the Tandberg DLT and the HP DAT 72 drives. 

The price of the drive is less than 40,000 and the per GB cost of the tape is also quite low at Rs 40.50. This makes it an ideal buy for smaller offices, who are not too worried about high backup and restore speeds, but more concerned with ensuring that their data is safely backed up. The drive comes with a 2 years warranty.