I was hoping for something SaaS-like that would be automated (so that an external company would be responsible to not forget to do the backups) and no entry cost. As you say, tape drives are expensive.

I was starting to imagine how automable it would be to have machines that downloaded and encrypted data, and small robots popping 128/256Gb (up to 1Tb) SD cards in and out, and even dropping them in envelopes with labels automatically printed out. Then the envelopes would be dropped into a chute as the outgoing mail :)

One obvious issue is that an 128gb card is about $30, so sending one every day would be too expensive. And if you sent one once a week that would mean up to 6 days of lost data.

Then there’s the issue of having access to so much customer data — this imaginary backup company would itself become a potential liability if it was hacked.

Would small companies even be interested?