StarWind VTL Reviews & Insights

We were looking for physical tape backups to protect against DR situations but were concerned about the fact that it would require the manual intervention of changing the tapes and sending them offsite as we could easily forget. Luckily, I came across Starwind VTL, which is the same as having a physical tape library without the hassle of changing tapes. The whole process is automated and we have the option of choosing between multiple cloud storage providers such as Amazon, Wasabi, Azure, etc.

Starwind VTL is a great solution for customers that want the benefits of a physical tape library without the hefty price tag and the manual intervention required when changing tapes as it is automated. In addition, Starwind VTL virtual tapes are "air-gapped" as they are in LTO format.

We are using Starwind's VTL to Backblaze cloud solution which works with Veeam's ability to offload existing backups to a tape library. This allows for easy de-duplication and compression of backups to a virtual tape library. It's very effective and easy to use. We were able to avoid the costly headache of storing our backups on tape to be taken offsite.

StarWind is most appropriate for environments that needs a new solution to keeping backups offsite. Great for small or large businesses.

We are using Starwind's VTL to Backblaze B2 software which augments Veeam's ability to offload existing backups to a tape library. This allows for easy de-duplication and compression of backups to a virtual tape library. Starwind's software basically makes a bridge between Veeam and B2 storage by acting as a VTL middleware. It's very effective. We were able to get rid of costly and headache-inducing sneakernet backups of shipping hard drives on a rotating basis in Pelican cases. We have lost drives and the reliability wasn't very reassuring - especially since shipping drives can result in losses, damages, and all sorts of issues. Something had to change and we are so glad to start using Backblaze B2 for our Veeam offsite/GFS requirements.

We are only using the Veeam to StarWind VTL for Backblaze B2 functionality but for what it is intended for, it does the job well and we are very pleased with how time and money saving this solution is. Be prepared to spend a good amount of time going over the implementation documentation and reading the manual several times to get it right. We received top-notch support during the implementation and deployment process though, so that made the process a little easier.