Tape Or Disk Backup

Is there a better choice when it comes to the two?

Tape (Pros) - Tape backups provide you mobility with your data storage needs. What I mean is that you can store your tapes at one location for easy restore purposes for let's say the first month. Then you can move the tapes to another site or third party storage facility for disaster recovery purposes for a longer period of time. You can also store a larger amount of data for relatively cheap compared to a disk solution.

Tape (Cons) - Tape is slower. Not only does it take longer to backup, it takes longer to restore. Tape is also not as reliable as disk. Tape is more prone to media errors and failed restores than disk.

Disk (Pros) - Disk is FAST. Disk backs up a lot faster and restores a lot faster. Disk is also a lot more reliable than tape.

Disk (Cons) - Not mobile. You cannot just pick up your SAN and relocate it to another site. Well you could, but it is not practical. Disk is expensive. A good SAN solution is not cheap. A lot of them are fiber channel.

SOULTION

An ideal solution, if your budget alllows it, would be to use both. I recommend backing up to disk first and then to tape. That will allow for quick backup and restore for recent data and provide you long retention for systems such as email.