No matter which thought you have, you are not wrong.
Why Need to Back up to Tape?
I believe the reasons for backing up digital data are well known to most of you.
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So, I wont repeat them here.
If so, you should continue your reading.
Tapes have been used for data storage early since the 1950s.

It seems that hard disks are better than magnetic tapes.
Yet, tapes have many advantages that make them still popular among users, especially for tape backup.
High Capacity
Large capacity is the most advanced feature of tapes.
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Though the capacity is increasing, the physical shape of modern tapes remains small.
Common tape drives are included in cartridges.
Therefore, you do not need to spare additional space for storing a large number of tape cartridges.

Which one is better?
Low Cost
Low price is the second advantage of magnetic tape drives.
When it comes to every GB, tape drive costs much less than hard drives.
If been maintained properly, you could expect to store your data for decades.
That is, tape drives supportlong-term data retentionand high archival stability.
Portable
As a kind of offline storage drive, tapes are separate from any host devices.
Only when doing the tape backup process, can they be connected to another machine.
Secure
Another advantage of tape backup storage is its security.
As offline backup storage, a tape drive is an ideal choice for storing rarely-used data.