A scientific method to choose a backup system ?

[stevegalante]

Always waiting for the perfect backup system (Constellation 3D Fluorescent Multilayer Disc ?) we now have a choice of at least 7 formats, each one with its sub-formats : CD-R, DVD-RAM & Co., AIT (1 & 2), DLT, DDS's, Exabyte's, VXA1 and more. I though the only way to make a rational choice is to evaluate each format in respect of some parameters, and personally my priorities are : 1) reliability and expected life of the media. 2) speed 3) cost 4) compatibility. Maybe many of you will agree with this list.
So let's take one parameter at a time, unfortunately there's no serious way to evaluate the first one because we do not know what will happen to all of these media in 10-15 years, there are too many variables and I don't think we can have some indication from MTBF data or similar. My only concern has always been about the reliability of tapes, having seen with my eyes (and heard with my ears) what can happen to a tape (I had an analog 24tr/2" studio) in 5-10 years... so I would definitely prefer a more solid support, like DVD or CD, but 90% of the 'backup world' still works with tapes, there must be a reason...
The first parameter that we can better evaluate is the 2), that is speed. Here's a big confusion begins, because there are in theory two parameters given by the companies that produce the drives, one is the burst transfer rate (that doesn't mean anything) and the other is the sunstained transfer rate, much more useful but in many cases still far from the truth. So let's begin from this, can you tell your experiences about all formats' real-life transfer rates (this also often depends from media capacity, I know....) considering the SCSI interface ?

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