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Tape Backup



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 13th 05, 10:00 PM
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Default Tape Backup

I am looking for opinions on what a decent tape backup for a PC
workstation might be, somewhere around 40 gigs or so, speed is not the
biggest issue, mostly being reasonablly priced and around 40 gigs (give
or take a few). I'm wondering what people think the better brands are
for this type of applications, and if possible, a suggestion on a
model.

Thanks

  #3  
Old January 14th 05, 12:06 AM
dg
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Default

I am a fan of hard disk storage used for backup, BUT, I was recently in a
computer store and saw a product marketed by ZIP that had a storage capacity
of (I think) 35-90GB. I think it was tape. Knowing ZIP products are
marketed towards the average PC user (and priced accordingly), you might
want to browse their website and see what they have to offer.

--Dan

wrote in message
oups.com...
I am looking for opinions on what a decent tape backup for a PC
workstation might be, somewhere around 40 gigs or so, speed is not the
biggest issue, mostly being reasonablly priced and around 40 gigs (give
or take a few). I'm wondering what people think the better brands are
for this type of applications, and if possible, a suggestion on a
model.

Thanks



  #4  
Old January 14th 05, 12:55 AM
Lynn
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What do you consider "reasonably priced"? I used to use an Onstream tape drive for backups. But it died and Onstream has been
out of business for two years. I am currently looking at external HDD for backup. I shopped around for tape drives. I found
the least expensive being $1,099. and that was for a 10 GB tape drive.


Whoa, Travan tape drives are very reasonably priced ! 20/40 GB
for $299 and the tapes are $40 each.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...113-121&depa=0

But, I would use an external hard drive with Robocopy.

Lynn


  #5  
Old January 14th 05, 04:04 AM
J. Clarke
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Lynn wrote:

What do you consider "reasonably priced"? I used to use an Onstream tape
drive for backups. But it died and Onstream has been
out of business for two years. I am currently looking at external HDD
for backup. I shopped around for tape drives. I found the least
expensive being $1,099. and that was for a 10 GB tape drive.


Whoa, Travan tape drives are very reasonably priced ! 20/40 GB
for $299 and the tapes are $40 each.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...113-121&depa=0

Travan drives are pieces of **** and the tapes cost more than 200 gig LTOs.
Tape drives are one place where you get what you pay for.

Think about it--40 bucks a pop for 20 gig tapes (forget the "20/40" crap,
they're 20 gig) vs 46 for a 40 gig disk.

But, I would use an external hard drive with Robocopy.

Lynn


--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)
  #6  
Old January 14th 05, 04:08 AM
J. Clarke
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Default

dg wrote:

I am a fan of hard disk storage used for backup, BUT, I was recently in a
computer store and saw a product marketed by ZIP that had a storage
capacity
of (I think) 35-90GB. I think it was tape. Knowing ZIP products are
marketed towards the average PC user (and priced accordingly), you might
want to browse their website and see what they have to offer.


It's an Iomega product but it's not a Zip and it's not a tape, it's called a
"REV" and it's a removable-media disk. The drive is 300 bucks and the
disks cost about the same as hard disks of slightly larger capacity.

--Dan

wrote in message
oups.com...
I am looking for opinions on what a decent tape backup for a PC
workstation might be, somewhere around 40 gigs or so, speed is not the
biggest issue, mostly being reasonablly priced and around 40 gigs (give
or take a few). I'm wondering what people think the better brands are
for this type of applications, and if possible, a suggestion on a
model.

Thanks


--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)
  #7  
Old January 14th 05, 06:51 AM
Mike Tomlinson
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Default

In article , Lynn
writes

Whoa, Travan tape drives are very reasonably priced !


They're also a pile of unreliable ****e.

20/40 GB
for $299 and the tapes are $40 each.


I pity you if you think $40 per tape is "reasonably priced".

--
..sigmonster on vacation


  #9  
Old January 14th 05, 05:06 PM
Irwin
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Arno,

Why are CD-R and DVD+-R unreliable and short lived? I really don't
know. You say HDD are reliable and medium life. I have never dropped a
hard drive, but I have dropped a lot of backup CD-R, and I am guessing
that the CD-R tolerate physical abuse a lot better. Now granted, I have
burned many a Drive Image CD, only to find that they don't verify
correctly. I never did understand where exactly the problem was in
that, was it software, burner, or medium? I guess that would qualify as
unreliable. It was be pretty devastating to try to restore a CD-R image
only to find that it was invalid and was your only backup. Actually, I
think that has happened to me before, I seem to remember. Is a
validated CD-R still unreliable and short-lived?

I have some old HDD on a shelf in anti-static bags, and I don't
consider them particularly convenient. Also, how long does a HDD hold
data before it starts to corrupt?

IMF

  #10  
Old January 14th 05, 06:53 PM
J. Clarke
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Irwin wrote:

Arno,

Why are CD-R and DVD+-R unreliable and short lived?


Whether they are or not depends on the particular chemistry--some last a
good long time when properly stored but don't count on it unless you're
sure you know what you're getting.

I really don't
know. You say HDD are reliable and medium life. I have never dropped a
hard drive, but I have dropped a lot of backup CD-R, and I am guessing
that the CD-R tolerate physical abuse a lot better.


Some kinds yes, others no. A hard disk shock-mounted in a removable tray
will take quite a lot of abuse, a laptop drive even more. One thing you
are not going to do is scratch the data off a hard disk by dragging
something across it.

Now granted, I have
burned many a Drive Image CD, only to find that they don't verify
correctly. I never did understand where exactly the problem was in
that, was it software, burner, or medium? I guess that would qualify as
unreliable. It was be pretty devastating to try to restore a CD-R image
only to find that it was invalid and was your only backup. Actually, I
think that has happened to me before, I seem to remember. Is a
validated CD-R still unreliable and short-lived?

I have some old HDD on a shelf in anti-static bags, and I don't
consider them particularly convenient. Also, how long does a HDD hold
data before it starts to corrupt?


Put those disks in inexpensive trays and they become a lot more convenient.
You'll find that disk is actually competitive with travan tape in cost and
is much more flexible in terms of options for backup strategies (you can
use anything from xcopy to high end enterprise backup software, you can
back up to RAID, can do all sorts of things that you can't do with tape)
and vastly superior in terms of transfer rate and scalability (when you
need 200 gig of backup, if there is a Travan that large available at all
it's not going to be cheap and won't use your existing tapes, but stick a
250 gig disk in a tray and it plugs right in where your old 40 came out,
with no changes at all needed.

As to how long a hard disk holds data, I don't know a specific answer to
that--I've never had one lose data that had not failed outright. Since
they depend on magnetic servo tracks for their operation they should hold
data uncorrupted as long as the drive operates.




IMF


--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)
 




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