pete@octopus.UUCP (Pete Holzmann) (08/26/88)
The subject line really says it. Please email me if you have any
experience with the Alpha Micro VideoTrax VCR backup system. I'm thinking
about getting it, and want to know if there is something bad I should
be aware of. I also want to know if it is possible to:
1) Use extra-long cables to connect it to the computer (so I can
keep the VCR with the TV and the computer where it is a
couple of rooms away).
2) Use high quality VHS tapes, run them at 6Hr speed and get 240
MB (or some nice big number) instead of getting 80MB in
2 hours.
The main question: this thing is SLOW. Does that get frustrating
over time? Do you wish you had a fast tape so you could recover
stuff in real time during the day?
For those of you who don't know what this is, and are interested in hard
disk backup options, read on. Here's my impressions (not having used it,
but having read a bunch and talked with their tech support):
It is a board, software, and an optional VCR you can buy with the package.
If you use their VCR, you get computer-controlled tape movement, otherwise
you get to punch the buttons by hand (they take an off-the-shelf Zenith
4 head HQ VCR and add some electronics to do hard-wired remote control
functions. The package still includes the wireless remote for normal
video usage).
The full package including VCR costs about the same as a normal cheap
internal 60MB streaming cassette backup.
There's a significant tradeoff involved:
Normal cassette backup: 3-5MB/minute backup and restore speed. Tapes cost
20-35 bucks. The hardware is dedicated to computer use. You get
60MB per tape max (unless you want to spend lots more bucks).
VideoTrax: 40MB/hour (80MB in a 2 hour tape) or 2/3MB/minute. Tapes cost
4 bucks or so for cheap VHS. Supposedly, if you go for high quality
tapes (15-20 dollar range), you can run in the 6Hr mode and get
up to 3 times as much data on the tape (240MB). The VCR (and old
tapes that have degraded below data quality) is usable as a normal
VCR.
So its fast backups with expensive media vs. SLOW backups with cheap media
and a 'free' VCR to boot. A hard decision, but I'm leaning towards
the VCR solution. Hopefully, I won't need to reload from backups
all *that* much.
Pete
--
OOO __| ___ Peter Holzmann, Octopus Enterprises
OOOOOOO___/ _______ USPS: 19611 La Mar Court, Cupertino, CA 95014
OOOOO \___/ UUCP: {hpda,pyramid}!octopus!pete
___| \_____ Phone: 408/996-7746