Cost is on the order of 10 - 15 dollars for a 90 meter DDS1 tape. There is a NextStep specific program called SafetyNet.app that can be used to backup and restore files from tape without having to deal with arcane unix commands like tar or dump. It mantains an online catalog in your home directory so that you have immediate access to the table of contents of all your tapes. I recommend creating a couple of directories beforehand to store the Archives and Profiles that you will be generating. We have several disks dedicated exclusively to soundfile storage.
Space is allocated in first come first served basis.
To get a personal directory in one of the disks you have to contact the system administrator. The disk space is only temporary and can only be obtained if you are working in a project that involves use of big soundfiles. The space may ONLY be used to store soundfiles. It is not a general purpose storage space. You are required to empty the space when your project ends.