Episode Details

Daniel asked a simple question: once you've bought the tape drive, how does tape actually get integrated into a Linux server? The answer starts with a surprise — there is no driver to install, because LTO support has lived in the mainline kernel for decades. But the deeper answer is that tape refuses the mental model most of us bring from ZFS and LVM. A library does not appear to the operating system as a single expandable block device. There is no pool that grows when you add a cartridge. Each cartridge is an independent volume with a fixed capacity, and "pool" in backup software means a catalog, not a device. Along the way: the st versus nst device distinction that quietly destroys archives, why tar's default block size can make a modern LTO drive run 24x slower than it should, what LTFS actually buys you and why it isn't packaged for Debian, and why the real hardware compatibility question is the SAS card, not the drive. Episode #359718 — open it directly at myweirdprompts.com/359718