IBM ULT-3580

This was the only other Ultrium 3 drive besides the HP Storage Works 960. It's also meant for medium sized businesses. The drive can backup 400 GB native and 800 GB of compressed data. Being the latest generation drive, its performance was of course really fast. The drive has a compression rate of 2:1.

The drive took only 5 minutes and 36 seconds to backup 16 GB of data, which translates to an average throughput of 2.9 GB per minute or 177 GB per hour. While these are good figures, they're slightly lower than the HP 960 drive. The backup time in our case was similar for both compressed and uncompressed modes. Restore time was three minutes longer than the backup time, taking 8 minutes 22 seconds for 16 GB of data backed up in compressed mode. It took 17 seconds to backup a single 794 MB highly compressed file. This is on the higher side when compared with the HP StorageWorks 960.

While the performance of the drive is good, what we really liked about the drive was its low recurring cost compared to the offerings from HP. It only costs Rs. 12 per GB for native mode backup. This drive is also fully backward compatible with Ultrium 1 and 2 tapes. 

The drive's initial cost is also lower than the HP SW960, but then this didn't come with any cleaning cartridge, nor was there any backup software bundled.

BOTTOM LINE: This drive is a lot cheaper than its cousin, the 960 but also provides a slower average throughput. A good drive for a lower budget, at the cost of performance. RQS# E26 or SMS 131126 to 9811800601

Price: Drive-Rs. 249,000, Cartridge-Rs. 4,790




Warranty:
3 years




Cartridge type:
Ultrium 3




Capacity:
400GB native, 800GB Compressed 




Avg. througput:
180.59 GB/Hr




Contact:
IBM India, Bangalore 




Tel:
22063000. Email: storage@in.ibm.com