The enterprise backup service at UVic is what protects core University data coming from systems like Connect, Banner and CourseSpaces, by creating on-site and off-site copies. Additionally, the backup service helps to support research initiatives not funded by Compute Canada’s national infrastructure.
Back in June, the backup service on campus got a tech transformation in tape thanks to the Backup Technology Refresh project headed by Evan Rempel. Before the project, the University used a combination of tape technology from several generations; the oldest being LTO-2 technology which could hold 200GB per cartridge and read/write data at 35MB per second. Compare that to the new LTO-7 technology recently installed which holds 6,000GB per cartridge and can read/write data at 300MB per second. That is approximately 30 times the capacity and 8 times the throughput. Not only does this upgrade make a big difference in storage capability, it reduces ongoing costs by about $2,500 a month as fewer tapes are transported and stored offsite.
Fun fact: the robot that places the cartridges into the tape drives and returns them back to their storage slots may have traveled more distance than you have since 2004. Although confined to the 5 metre-long library, it has travelled a cumulative distance of 12,068 km horizontally. That it the equivalent of travelling from Victoria to St. John’s, back again, and then to Winnipeg! Vertically, the robot has travelled 5,244 km: nearly 593 times the height of Mt Everest! If only we could all be so well travelled.