This article seems to be quite old (copyright 2001) and I cannot see any reference to the product on their web site. Maybe it was dropped? Present hardware units do not need the original drive, as it would as you say be pretty dumb for the planned DR usage.
Backup does not matter - only the restore counts!
There is also the "Paranoia" series of hardware tape encryption units that are good for any SCSI tape drive or library and operating system. Overcomes the worry of the smart card being cloned by using internal volatile RAM for the keys. Article at http://www.enterprisestorageforum.com/outsourcing/ features/print/0,,10562_882931,00.html
Also many of the tape backup programs offer a level of tape encryption, of course they are slow and offer lower security levels but are better than nothing.
What is wrong with tape? It is still the most used media and we have years of experience on how to treat it and the life expectancy.
You need to get your copy of the data miles away from your site to be of any use in a real disaster!
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This article seems to be quite old (copyright 2001) and I cannot see any reference to the product on their web site. Maybe it was dropped? Present hardware units do not need the original drive, as it would as you say be pretty dumb for the planned DR usage. Backup does not matter - only the restore counts!
There is also the "Paranoia" series of hardware tape encryption units that are good for any SCSI tape drive or library and operating system. Overcomes the worry of the smart card being cloned by using internal volatile RAM for the keys. Article at http://www.enterprisestorageforum.com/outsourcing/ features/print/0,,10562_882931,00.html
Also many of the tape backup programs offer a level of tape encryption, of course they are slow and offer lower security levels but are better than nothing.
What is wrong with tape? It is still the most used media and we have years of experience on how to treat it and the life expectancy. You need to get your copy of the data miles away from your site to be of any use in a real disaster!