[kanzure]

For sourcing drives probably better to go with buying external 10 TB drives (and shucking them). Make a JBOD.. I dunno.

A quick ebay search right now shows used LTO8 drive for $3K (same as new), LTO7 for $1.8K, LTO6 for $0.5K, LTO5 for $0.15K. If you shop around, you can find much better deals.

Here are some tape costs:

LTO-5 (1.5TB/$19.60 = $13.07/TB) LTO-6(2.5TB/$22.58=$9.03/TB) LTO-7 (6TB/$57.95=$9.66/TB) LTO-7 type M (9TB/$57.95=$6.44/TB) LTO-8 (12TB/$134.25=$11.19/TB)

Breakevens:

    LTO8=300T
    LTO7=300T
    LTO6=75T
    LTO5=50T
    LTO4 and below=never

Of course without a tape robot, no one should be using LTO5--there's some personal inconvenience cutoff for everyone.