>We use a DLT here at work and it's been a GREAT experience.
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>We use ArcServeIt 6.something-but-it's-the-latest-build *g* and it's worked OK. Not sure who else is out there with respect to NT-based backup software but if I were to purchase another tape drive I'd check around. ArcServeIT works as intended but I tend to get nervous purchasing software froma company known for "borg-ing" other companies. *g* The only other trouble I've had is that when we upgraded to SQL 7.0 ArcServeIT wasn't ready. Now fixed, but at the time a major annoyance. IOW, make sure that all the software you intend to use like this is 'ready to rumble' with your intended platform. Not fun if one of the pieces becomes a monry sink because it won't work together.
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We use ARCServe at our office - the other option I normally work with is backup Exec (now being sold by Veritas as a subsidiary of Seagate.) We're very pleased with ARCServe as a product; we use DAT rather than DLT, and we've had no significant problems with getting stuff to work with ARCServe in a variety of flavors and OS environments.

>I don't know your pain tolerance level - well, other than being a FoxPro developer and hanging out here - ok, you're durable *g*.. Anyway, I kind of enjoy building my own boxes for the learning (read pai *g*) experiences. It does help.
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I also build my own, but I'm very picky about my hardware for myself, stay very on top of the technology, and used to get stuff to review and then got to buy the reviewed items I liked at a significant discount. I advise my clients to buy stuff that they can get supported easily; while I probably have tremendously solid hardware, I don't have an immediate source down the street to replace things in less than a day.

>OTOH, I've been eyeing some new Netfinity servers from IBM for some future stuff and I have to tell you that from everything I've seen the Netfinity line is VERY HIGHLY regarded by those who seek hardware reliability. They have these cool models that are only something like 1.5 inches high! Since I want to rack mount my future stuff this is almost too cool to pass up.
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I like the HP servers and IBM servers; HP is very accomodating as far as storage configuration.