StarWind VTL Review
Updated June 16, 2022

StarWind VTL Review

Indeep Gill | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with StarWind Virtual Tape Library

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.

Pros

  • We can leverage our existing Veeam Infrastructure.
  • We can upload to multiple different cloud providers simultaneously.
  • Works the same as physical tapes at as lower cost.

Cons

  • There needs to be an estimated time of completion to determine how long the upload will take.
  • Needs to have an option to backup to the same cloud provider simultaneously.
  • Replication to the Cloud
  • Secure Air Gap offline storage
  • We saved a few thousands dollars by not going with physical tape drives.
We've looked at physical tape backups, however, the infrastructure is too costly compared to Starwind VTL and it also requires manual changing of tapes that users will not want to do or forget to do. With VTL, it works exactly like a physical tape library with the same benefits and full automation.

Do you think StarWind Virtual Tape Library delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with StarWind Virtual Tape Library's feature set?

Yes

Did StarWind Virtual Tape Library live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of StarWind Virtual Tape Library go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy StarWind Virtual Tape Library again?

Yes

Veeam Backup & Replication, IDrive
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.

StarWind VTL Feature Ratings

Using StarWind Virtual Tape Library

  • Cloud Replication
  • Backup Retention
Their support is great and the interface is not as user friendly

Evaluating StarWind VTL and Competitors

  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability

StarWind VTL Support

The Technical team was very helpful in answering all of my questions, including how I wanted to setup the tape backup jobs in our existing infrastructure to configure simultaneous uploads to the cloud from two different cloud storage providers.
ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
No escalation required
Immediate help available
Support understands my problem
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
None
I purchased premium support and the reason is because the process is somewhat complicated however their support makes it easy.
I had noticed that the virtual tapes taking up large amount of storage to a point where I had only a few GB's of storage left. I had called Starwind support and they spent the time with me clearing up space rather than just telling me what to do.

Using StarWind VTL

The initial setup took some time, however, with the help of the Starwind technical team, we were able to set it up from start to finish including seamlessly adding it to our existing backup solution. After that, there was no need for any additional setup or troubleshooting.
ProsCons
Well integrated
Consistent
Requires technical support
Lots to learn
  • Setting up Cloud Replication
  • Can't search by tape barcode
  • there is no visibility for creation/modification of tapes at the moment

Comments

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