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No. Not really
For long term storage LTO is the answer.
If cost/ lifetime storage are the only factors
I prefer drives; it is a cost I’m willing to pay as speed is more important, at home —At work we have both because 3-2-1
However I have been looking at tape for home use for some long term storage
Seconding this. I work with a lot of geophysical data, and there's a reason why our library is stored on LTO.
Once you have the infrastructure and supply chain for it, there's simply no cheaper way of long term storage per TB. The drives can be pricey, depending on which you use, but the standard IBM tapes are pretty cheap.
What is the cost per TB for LTO?
I don't know, we usually buy in bulk. I tried finding the invoice we got after a pallet of 15TB tapes, but I can't seem to find it.
There are also different tape types depending on which capabilities you need, which of course affects the price as well. We use a few variations on the IBM 3592 tape, but most of them are WORM, and in a tape format that "anyone" can read.
What drive would you recommend to a beginner?
Western digital external. My book 20tb or whatever size works for you. I blew through a 12 and 16 filled with photos and videos…
USB 3 and portable; I use exfat as my friend keeps a copy at his house.
And I just rotate through 3. One at home one at work and one with my friend.
FreeFileSync to keep everything updated