I came across this website that provides LTO tape pricing references (I have no affiliation with the site).

LTO-10 30TB: $259–$300 per cartridge (~$8.63–$10/TB) LTO-10 40TB: $491–$555 per cartridge (~$12.28–$13.88/TB) LTO-9 18TB: $92–$129 per cartridge (~$5.14–$7.17/TB)

https://tapebackup.org/lto-tape-price-trend/lto10-price

One thing worth noting is that the tape cartridges themselves aren't necessarily the biggest expense. Standalone LTO-10 drives are currently listed at around $25,000.

▲

throw0101c 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> One thing worth noting is that the tape cartridges themselves aren't necessarily the biggest expense. Standalone LTO-10 drives are currently listed at around $25,000.

The drives are a fairly fixed CapEx: once they're purchased they don't cost must/anything to run. You may replace them every few years with newer tech for higher capacities of course.

Libraries/robotics last even longer, and can stick around for a decade or more once purchased.

▲

RobotToaster 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

What makes the drives so expensive? Is it just the fact that they're still pretty niche?

	▲	rickdeckard 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		It's niche, yes. But also an incredibly high-precision mechanical device, designed for constant operation. But the fact that -ALL- LTO drive-mechanisms are build by IBM maybe also doesn't help the pricing...

▲

cyberax an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> LTO-10 30TB: $259–$300 per cartridge (~$8.63–$10/TB) LTO-10 40TB: $491–$555 per cartridge (~$12.28–$13.88/TB) LTO-9 18TB: $92–$129 per cartridge (~$5.14–$7.17/TB)

Just a note: do NOT buy LTO-10 right now. The capacity increase is not worth the price bump, and the drives are still very new. There are still no half-height drives for tape libraries available, for example.

▲

shiftpgdn 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

You don't need a $25,000 LTO-10 drive, $100,000 library, and $300 tapes. The drives are frequently backwards compatible multiple generations, so your archives are safe. You can get LTO-7, LTO-8, and LTO-9 libraries for cheap (right now there are lots of LTO-7 standalone drives for under $1000 on ebay), as they've aged out of enterprise leases.

▲

jmwilson 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

You got me briefly excited, but the only LTO-7 drives on eBay under $1000 are listed as parts-only. The price jump from LTO-6 to LTO-7 has remained steep for years; either industry is holding on to them, or they're being resold or released successfully.

	▲	2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		[deleted]
	▲	shiftpgdn an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		You're right, I didn't catch the (For Parts Only) labels when you click into the auctions. It looks like there are some working LTO-7 drive sleds that can be adapted into storage vaults for under $1000, though you're in for another $1000-$2500 for the vault.

▲

stonogo 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

That's got worse recently. LTO used to be guaranteed compatible two generations back; an LTO-7 drive can read LTO-6 and LTO-5 tape. With newer standards, they've cut that to one generation. Your point stands, but folks should be aware the treadmill has been sped up in the past few years.

	▲	flopsamjetsam 10 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Ouch, only one generation now? Back in the day, we started with a second-hand LTO-3 tape library, then upgraded to an LTO-5 when that died. I remember learning about this stuff (we were only an SME, not an enterprise, so didn't have any knowledge about these things), and realising we'd have to be careful with our upgrade plan.

▲

wslh 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Yes, drives are very expensive and that's why there is a business for renting them. Even Amazon Snowball offered that [1]. There are other rental services such as [2] but many of them are not LTO-10 yet (don't know if it really matters right now).

[1] https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/developer-guide/...

[2] https://mediastoragegroup.com/