The nuclear plant has close to 3000 DOS and Windows computers connected to several NetWare and Unix servers. The former means that you make just a copy of all the data that has changed since the last backup. This saves time and tapes, but it can be confusing if you need to find a particular file from the backup that needs to be restored. I try to stay away from incremental backups because they are such a pain when attempting a restore. More on that in a moment.
Every system is different.
Let's first consider the actual tape drive hardware itself. While there are many different drive manufacturers, you can narrow the field quickly by looking at how much data storage capacity you'll need. These use digital audio tape or 8mm tapes that can hold up to ten gigabytes' worth of data. For backups between 300 to 800 megabytes, we recommend Colorado Memory System's PowerTape. Besides the tape drive, a second item is the tape backup software itself.