liber@darth.UUCP (Eric Liber) (01/06/89)
I posted this once before (just before xmas) but i suspect it got lost. So since I got not responses here goes again. I need to have some method of backing up my 70meg hd on a 386 AT type machine running DOS3.3. Here are my questions: 1) Do the "Floppy" interface units work (and work well)? 2) Can you use a "Floppy" unit if you already have 2 drives attached to your controller (WD1003-WA2). 3) Since my Hd is partitioned into two 32meg and one 6 meg I assume a 40 meg backup capacity is adequate ... yes or no? 4) If you have some other preference I would like to hear it .. all suggestions are welcome .. just remember I have blown the budget getting this far and i can't afford lots of $$$$ for a backup unit. 5) I have seen some good prices on Colorado Tape units .. how are these ? 6) Last .. if anyone would like to give me a short tutorial on Tape backup and the different technologies available and some definitions you have a willing student .. this is the LAST hole in my computer education, when i understand this then i will know EVERYTHING about computer technology there is to know :-) :-) :-) :-) (note all the smiley faces please ..) Thanks in advance Eric (the red) Liber
hundt@paul.rutgers.edu (Thomas M. Hundt) (01/08/89)
> 1) Do the "Floppy" interface units work (and work well)? I've heard Yes. > 2) Can you use a "Floppy" unit if you already have 2 drives attached to your > controller (WD1003-WA2). You can't use these since they plug into the back of the floppy controller board, which in the original IBM incarnation (on PC and XT) had a 50-pin external connector, to which you could plug floppies #3 and 4. Since none of the AT HD/FD controllers have this (let alone support >2 drives), you have no place to plug it in! > 3) Since my Hd is partitioned into two 32meg and one 6 meg I assume a 40 meg > backup capacity is adequate ... yes or no? I'd think 32 megs is sufficient... > 4) If you have some other preference I would like to hear it .. all > suggestions are welcome .. just remember I have blown the budget getting > this far and i can't afford lots of $$$$ for a backup unit. Too bad, they all seem kinda expensive. Myself, I'd opt for a 1/2 height internally mounted tape. > 6) Last .. if anyone would like to give me a short tutorial on Tape backup > and the different technologies available and some definitions you have One thing you should insist upon is the ability to retrieve data both as an "image" (ie. whole disk/partition as a unit) *and* as a "file" (ie. implied some directory type structure that allows one to find just one file --- eg. from last year's backup your 1040A). Not all tape drives (and software) permit this. I 'spose it'd be nice if the software would allow one to read Unix `tar' tapes... but I haven't heard of this (Everex, you listening?) -- RRRRRR Thomas M. Hundt RR RR Gradual Student --- Electrical & Computer Engineering RR RR Rutgers University RRRRR New Brunswick NJ RR RR hundt@occlusal.rutgers.edu RRR RRR Famous last words: "The virus ate it."
louis@auvax.UUCP (Louis Schmittroth) (01/16/89)
In article <425@darth.UUCP>, liber@darth.UUCP (Eric Liber) writes: > running DOS3.3. Here are my questions: > > 5) I have seen some good prices on Colorado Tape units .. how are these ? I just installed a Colorado JUMBO tape unit on the second floppy port of my controller (Adaptec 2372), and am pleased as punch with it so far, considering the price. It takes forever (38 minutes) to format a tape, but the actual backup is swift -- about 10MB in 6 minutes. I am running it under both Xenix 2.3 and DOS 3.3. The software supplied with unit is great in both cases. This is on a TCR 386/20 AT type machine. -- Louis Schmittroth, Computer Science, Athabasca University auvax!louis
vanden@studsys.mu.edu (vandenberg) (01/21/89)
I have also used the Colorado Tape Backup (Jumbo) system. The
backup times I got were as high as 2.1meg/min when I did 30meg and
about and as low as 1meg/min with about 2meg. Other than the long
format time(38min) and a little noise on boot up it is a great
unit for a stand alone. (all on DOS 3.3 systems)
But on a Novell network betware. A client reported to us that
when he backed up with one other user on, besides the user doing
the backup that is, several hundred files weren't backed up.
With just the backup user logged in it works great he said. We
haven't had a chance to contact the company, so the user may have
goofed up in the installation(or something else).
{..uunet..uwvax!uwmcsd1..}!marque!studsys!vanden
vanden%studsys@marque.UUCP
43 4 58 N / 87 55 52 W
Disclaimer - No one knows what I do, not even me.djo7613@blake.acs.washington.edu (Dick O'Connor) (10/21/89)
I have a feeling that the shop selling me a 386 machine with 70 meg hard disk wants too much for the 60 MB tape backup unit ($790), so I'm looking for suggestions from the net as to alternatives I can purchase and install myself. I'm mostly interested in internal units, and 60 MB capacity will do fine. I've heard of Archive and Mountain units; any specific comments? And are there any decent rugged external units you can recommend for carrying around the office to the six machines we have here? I don't know if such units require controller cards or can just hook to a serial port (is that even possible?)...maybe "portability" isn't all it's cracked up to be in this case... "Moby" Dick O'Connor ** DISCLAIMER: It would Washington Department of Fisheries ** surprise me if the Olympia, Washington 98504 ** rest of the Department Internet Mail: djo7613@blake.u.washington.edu ** agreed with any of this!