Tool
The best tape backup software depends on how you use tape: Veeam suits mostly virtual estates that keep tape as a second copy, Commvault suits large mixed estates, Nakivo suits smaller budgets, and LTFS is free for simple archives.
Hardware is half the job. Answer four questions to get a shortlist of backup software for your LTO drives or library, based on your environment, how you use tape, the size of your estate and your budget.
Match your environment to a shortlist: Veeam, Commvault, Nakivo or Veeam for Microsoft 365. Contact us to know more vendors.
Shortlist
These are the products this finder recommends from. All of them write to the same LTO cartridges, so the choice is about your estate and your budget rather than the tape.
| Software | Best for | Tape support |
|---|---|---|
| Veeam Backup & Replication | Mostly virtual estates (VMware, Hyper-V) | Writes to tape libraries and standalone drives, usually as a second or long-term copy of disk backups. |
| Commvault | Large mixed physical, virtual and cloud estates | Supports tape libraries and a very wide range of workloads; more to license and manage. |
| Nakivo | Small and mid-size environments on a budget | Supports tape libraries and autoloaders at a lower price than the large suites. |
| Veeam for Microsoft 365 | Microsoft 365 data | Not written to tape directly: back up first, then copy the repository to tape. |
| CloudCasa | Kubernetes workloads | Cloud-native backup for Kubernetes clusters. |
| More vendors | Not sure which one fits? | Contact us to know more vendors: ask about your estate. |
Checklist
Whichever product you shortlist, check these six points against your own drives or library. The library guide and the backup calculator help with the hardware side.
| Check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| LTO generation and interface | Confirm the software supports your LTO generation and your drive or library connection (SAS or Fibre Channel). An unsupported drive can block the purchase. |
| LTFS | Software that can write LTFS leaves tapes readable without it later, which helps when you change vendors or restore years on. |
| Streaming speed | An LTO drive needs a steady flow of data. Check how the software stages or multiplexes jobs so the drive does not keep stopping and restarting. |
| Encryption and WORM | LTO-4 and newer drives encrypt with AES-256, and WORM cartridges protect against overwrites. Check how the software manages the keys and WORM media. |
| Catalogue and restore | Searching across many cartridges and restoring a single file quickly depends on the catalogue. Test a full restore before you commit. |
| Offsite and retention | Look for media tracking for tapes that leave the building, expiry and recycling rules, and a record of where every cartridge is. |
It depends on your estate. Veeam is the usual choice for mostly virtual environments that keep tape as a second copy, Commvault suits large mixed physical, virtual and cloud estates, and Nakivo is a lower-cost option for smaller environments. The finder above narrows it down in four questions.
Not for a simple archive. LTFS lets you copy files to an LTO-5 or newer cartridge like a drive, using free tools from the drive vendors. Backup software adds what LTFS lacks: scheduling, a searchable catalogue across many cartridges, verification, retention rules and library control.
Yes. Veeam Backup & Replication can write backups to tape libraries and standalone tape drives, usually as a second or long-term copy of backups that live on disk. Check that your drive or library and its generation are on the vendor's supported list before you buy.
Not directly. Back up the SaaS data with a tool such as Veeam for Microsoft 365, then copy its repository to tape if you need an offline or long-retention copy.
Check that it supports your LTO generation and your drive or library interface (SAS or Fibre Channel), whether it can write LTFS, how it handles encryption, WORM and offsite media tracking, and how fast and how reliably it can restore from a catalogue. Test a full restore before you commit.
Yes. Bacula Community, Bareos and Amanda are open-source backup systems that support tape drives and libraries, and tar with LTFS works for simple jobs. They cost no licence fee, but you build and maintain the catalogue, scheduling and monitoring yourself.