hsgj@batcomputer.UUCP (07/16/86)
This is really in response to someone who wanted to know about PC
tape backup systems, but I don't have the article number handy...
I use an Everex "Execl Stream-60" tape backup system, for my AT-Compatible.
This is not going to be a full review, because I have only backed up my hard
disk once, so I am not completely familiar with the operation of this thing.
First it can be internally installed - right now it is where "drive b:"
would be on a normal AT. The tape drive uses 3M "DC 600A" data cartridges;
these are 600foot carts that store 60 Megs of data. 60 Megs is really nice
to have on one tape.
Software wise, there is an extremely user-friendly interface to the
tape backup/restore software. This thing is completely windowed. Actually
I think it is overkill because who needs 12 windows, all completely moveable,
and depth-arrangeable, on some tape backup software that you run once
a week? (or once period in my case :-). Anyways, the program lets you
back up a group of files, or an image. An image is the entire copy of the
hard disk which it writes to tape. The file backup is really nice, cause
if you specify a directory it will backup the directory, and optionally
any subdirectories in that directory. If you do a file backup of "C:\"
it will back up the whole disk. A very important and nice feature is
that you can restore individual files out of either the image or the
file backup. Of course, you can do a total restore also.
The backup is very, very fast -- I would say about 1 meg a minute
more or less. I did not time it, this is just an estimate for the full
file backup of my HD.
By the way, if anyone is wondering why I haven't used this tape backup
more then once, it is because I did one full backup to the tape, and I
do incremental backups (ie just save things I modified) onto floppies. I
will always trust floppies more then tape, no matter how good the tape system.
Well, I have no connection with Everex except that I use their tape drive.
The address is: Everex Systems Inc.
48431 Milmont Drive
Fremont, CA 94538
I don't know how much the system costs, or how hard it is to install,
as my employer purchased/installed it. Speaking of my employer, he is
going to be really pissed at me for reading news, so I guess I will say
goodbye...
--
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