Dat Tape Drives - Introduction to DAT Tape Drives - DAT Tape Drives Explained, Advantages of DAT Tape Drives

Are you looking for more information on DAT tape drives for your home or business? Perhaps you have heard of their security benefits or simple interface and want to know more. In an increasingly complex technological landscape, it is getting more and more important to make sure vital files are backed up and system recovery methods are in place. DAT tape can help you prepare just such security measures. You always hope the day will never come when your system crashes, but in the event that it does, you definitely want to be prepared. It could mean the difference between your business soldiering on or completely collapsing. This guide will walk you through the basics on DAT tape drives, their main advantages, and their main users. With this guide, you will be able to tell whether or not you would personally benefit from purchasing one of these drives, and understand the basic concepts behind them.

DAT Tape Drives Explained

DAT tape drives are essentially a high-security backup device. Typical drives hold up to 320 gigabytes, and are easily interfaced into an existing server. They typically come with pre-installed data protection software, which includes use of backup and recovery tools for your system. Some are also packaged with cleaning cartridges to maintain the drive.

Advantages of DAT Tape Drives

DAT drives have become popular for a number of reasons.

Low Cost – these drives have a low relative investment cost compared to other data backup solutions on the market, and they are readily available.

Data Security – not only do these drives offer peace of mind as a system backup tool, they also offer protection from unauthorized access by using special data encryption. This ensures that your data is as protected as possible from both outside and inside threats.

Easy Interface – DAT drives easily install into most common server configurations, making them the preferred backup method of many systems administrators.

Flexibility – Because of its prevalence, the DAT backup system is compatible with almost all existing server configurations.

Who Should Use DAT Drives

For the reasons listed above, DAT drives have become the reigning technology for small to medium-sized businesses. The low cost of investment and easy installation make it the logical choice. However, it does meet its limitations when faced with the demands of a high-traffic large enterprise, who will usually employ other more expensive means of data backup with higher capacities and speed. These companies have the money to invest and the experienced staff to integrate more expensive and resource-intensive installations.

Where to Get Them

Two major providers of reliable DAT drives are Quantum Data Drives and HP StorageWorks Data Drives. Particularly, the HP site has many more useful resources for the business interested in installing this backup technology. Even if you do not end up purchasing with HP, it can be a useful place to start intelligence-gathering for your new potential purchase.