How can you expect the customers to put their money in your business when the customers think that their money is not safe with you? Therefore, not only is it of utmost importance to backup your data in a timely manner, but also to choose the best data backup storage device. Tapes have long been favoured as data storage devices and many businesses continue to show their loyalty towards tapes even today.



What are Tapes?

Tapes are data storage devices that use a magnetic tape in order to save and read data. While hard disks allow random access to data, tapes allow the users to read the data in a sequential manner. Tapes are frequently used for archiving the data because they are very cost-effective.

What is Recycled Tape Media?

It is very common for users to use recycled tape media for backing up their data. Recycled tape media is different from the usual tape media because recycled tapes are not new. Many new tapes are discarded without being used to their fullest extent. Therefore, the manufacturers of recycled tapes take these tapes and recycle them by deleting the old data. This old data is deleted by using a high intensity magnetic field. Once the old data is deleted, these tapes are repackaged and resold for use.

Why Do People Buy Recycled Tape Media?

The main reason due to which people buy recycled tape media is that it is an extremely cost-effective option. The recycled tape media is extremely cheap. Given the fact that tapes have a good data storage capacity, the cost per MB of data while using these recycled tapes is greatly reduced.

There are times when some small to medium-sized companies want to backup their data but do not want to spend heavily on data storage devices. For such companies, using recycled tape media appears to be a good option. Larger companies also use recycled tape media.

Large-sized companies have huge databases and documents that they need to archive. Since the size of the data is so huge, it is not economical to use expensive data backup storage devices. Recycled tape media prove to be a good option for such companies because these tapes have the ability to store large amount of data at a very low price.

Pros and Cons of Using Recycled Tape Media

The major advantage of using recycled tape media is the cost factor. Recycled tape media offers its users a cost advantage that is unmatched by any other data storage device. There are times when people feel that tape cartridges are very expensive and this deters them from using tapes for creating data backups. However, when these people use recycled tape media, the saving resulting from using this recycled tape media offsets the cost of buying cartridges. Therefore, people do not hesitate to opt for recycled tapes as data backup media.

Using recycled tape media has its own set of drawbacks. Many experts advise caution while using the recycled tapes if the value of your data outweighs the cost-saving resulting from using these tapes. The recycled tapes go through a process called degaussing. The degaussing process is used to delete all the previous data from the tape. However, there are times when tapes cannot be degaussed. Such tapes resist the magnetisation process and, therefore, may not be fit for use again.

There are times when the manufacturers of these recycled tapes use vacuum system and tape scraper blade to remove the dust or debris that may have accumulated on the tape's surface. Tapes are extremely fragile and this process can ruin the tape further, which can have impact on the lifespan of the tape.

While using recycled tapes, a user can never know how these tapes were handled or stored by their previous user. These tapes may have been misused and handled badly before they were eventually disposed. In addition, you can never know if the tape drive wherein these tapes were operated previously were clean or not.

If the recycled tapes had been used on ill-maintained or dirty tape drives, chances are that the tapes must have accumulated this dirt and debris from the tape drive. This dirt and debris may not go away completely even during the recycling process. Therefore, it is highly likely that the data stored on these drives will eventually be lost. In addition, when these dirty tapes are used on an error-free tape drive, they have the ability to corrupt the clean drive as well.