Unpredictable compression ratios weren't as much of a concern for me as physical failure. The bad taste was from having to unspool an entire backup tape onto the floor with a hand drill to get the tape reader operable again. All of this just so I can load another tape from the previous week to attempt a moonshot at restoring services before everyone wakes up.
You can test your restores all you want, but in an emergency, there is a chance it's going to jam up like a printer and destroy your backup at the same time.
You can test your restores all you want, but in an emergency, there is a chance it's going to jam up like a printer and destroy your backup at the same time.