If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Alternative to OnStream tape drives ?
With Onstream recently going bust and the strong possibility that
media will become hard to get I am starting to plan for a replacement drive to my DI-30 which has served me very well for over 2 years I'm assuming that this means the death of the ADR format as I haven't read of any companies taking on this technology. One of the great strengths of the ADR format was its quiet operation. My office is in the room next door to our bedroom and I need a quiet tape drive which will allow me to continue doing backups overnight. It is impossible to hear my OnStream drive in operation from the bedroom. An obvious choice of drive would be something like a DLT1 drive, but, if our model at work is anything to go by, they are quite noisy in operation and would certainly keep us awake at night. Can anyone recommend a tape format which is as reliable as my OnStream (no failures, no read errors or write errors in over 2 years), quiet, and can store about 15Gb of data or more on a single media. I know DDS drives are quiet but I've heard bad things about reliability and problems recovering data from these. DLT is noisy. What about AIT or VXA formats ? Any advice would be much appreciated. Cheers, FB |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 08:02:21 -0700, SloPoke wrote:
Ftang Blobby wrote: With Onstream recently going bust and the strong possibility that Where did you hear this news? AFAIK, Onstreamdata is still around. Didn't they just announce second generation ADR drives? Yes they did and I was very surprised last week when I found out they'd gone bust again (they USA company went bust a couple of years ago and the Dutch branch took over). The new generation of tape drives looked very good. Its such a shame as I personally think the ADR format is excellent. I sure hope another company takes it on and that ADR doesn't go the way of the betamax video. Personally it affects me greatly as I have 2 DI-30 drives (one in use and one spare which I bought from a friend) and 22 tapes which is quite an investment. Having to move to another format will cost me a fortune but I need to have access to archived data and also need offsite storage. DVD and CD just don't have the capacity and HDs are too delicate for this purpose IMV. I found out when I tried to buy some tapes from my usual supplier to discover that they no longer had any products by Onstream. I got in touch with them and they told me they'd recently gone bust. Their web site is down and I can only find one supplier in the UK with any tapes left. The demise of Onstream is mentioned in the Oct 2003 issue of PC Pro magazine here in the UK. Bloody typical of my luck though. I finally get all the tapes I need (I've been buying 2 a month for quite a while) and the bloomin manufacturer goes bust. I might be able to keep using the drives and my existing tapes for a while but without access to new media and cleaning cartridges, I'm going to be stuck sooner or later. I'm going to have to start saving up for a new drive. Hopefully someone will take on ADR before I get enough to buy a replacement and I can spend the money on something else. FB |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Ftang Blobby wrote in message ... .... The demise of Onstream is mentioned in the Oct 2003 issue of PC Pro magazine here in the UK. .... Was it just a mention, or did they give any details? This is the first I have heard; and we are(were) one of their resellers. Our distributor doesn't seem to know anything either; and they still have drives and tapes in current inventory. FWIW: VXA, VXA2 is probably quieter and less expensive; however it is another single vendor solution. Sony seems to be sharing the AIT, AIT2, and AIT3 technology. William |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 17:39:27 -0400, "William"
wrote: Was it just a mention, or did they give any details? This is the first I have heard; and we are(were) one of their resellers. Our distributor doesn't seem to know anything either; and they still have drives and tapes in current inventory. William Check out the following URL: http://www.maststorage.com/_eng/news...er/news24e.pdf FB |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Ftang Blobby wrote:
On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 08:02:21 -0700, SloPoke wrote: Ftang Blobby wrote: With Onstream recently going bust and the strong possibility that Where did you hear this news? AFAIK, Onstreamdata is still around. Didn't they just announce second generation ADR drives? Yes they did and I was very surprised last week when I found out they'd gone bust again (they USA company went bust a couple of years ago and the Dutch branch took over). The new generation of tape drives [snip] Well, that sucks. I have an SC-30 and a stack of tapes myself. I guess that explains why their web site appears to be dead. |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Ftang Blobby wrote in message ... On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 17:39:27 -0400, "William" wrote: Check out the following URL: http://www.maststorage.com/_eng/news...er/news24e.pdf Thanks; not many details, but more than I had. Although they have a declining stock, both of our distributors here in the US, have the products listed as current. I notice even at the MAST site, they have not changed their ADR sales pages. I wonder where Onstream's assets are going, especially their IP. Apparently, just having one of the best technologies wasn't good enough; hopefully a good company that does not have NIH syndrome will buy, support and develop the technology. William |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Tape Backup | [email protected] | Storage & Hardrives | 61 | February 5th 05 07:43 PM |
Resolved: An issue with installing XP on new Serial ATA drives, drives not being recognized by XP | Todd Wiese | Homebuilt PC's | 0 | October 26th 04 06:50 PM |
P4C800-E Delux: Setting up SATA Drives with RAID | Will | Asus Motherboards | 13 | July 12th 04 04:33 AM |
INtel raid | colt45 | Gigabyte Motherboards | 10 | November 9th 03 03:00 AM |
Magstar 3590 read write problem | Parth | General Hardware | 3 | October 19th 03 12:47 PM |