madd@bucsb.bu.edu.UUCP (Jim Frost) (11/16/86)
In article <1320@sunybcs.UUCP> ugzannin@sunybcs.UUCP (Adrian Zannin) writes: > > I would like to ask for information on tape drives for backup purposes >for the IBM PC. >[deleted text] >backing up a 10Mb hard drive >with floppies is a bit time-consuming and almost counterproductive... > > The information I would like is the usual: price, speed, reliablity, >outstanding features, etc. Also, if anyone out there has a personal >preference for a particular one, please post! Think about it before you get a tape drive. We did, and we decided to use a floppy-system. Here's why: Fastback. This is a backup program that backs up to floppies. It is VERY reliable. They advertise that you can staple one of the disks and it'll still get the information off. Now, this sounds unbelievable, but at least one reviewer tried it and it worked. So much for reliability. I want to see anyone do that on a tape drive. As for speed, it is FAST. We use it to back up a 72Mb drive. It takes about 15 minutes (using blank unformatted disks--it's faster if it had already backed up onto the disks) to back up 33Mb of data from the drive on an IBM AT with that drive (25ms access time, though this is not really relevant) onto 1.2mb disks through one drive. The program is real smart, too. It checks which kind of drive you have installed and optimizes itself for that type. It will use both floppies if you have 2, so you can minimize switch time. And best of all, it backs up by FILE, not image. We use it to transport files between AT's sometimes. You can selectively back up and restore files, too. Price? Less than $200. A bargain if it were twice as expensive. If it sounds like I am impressed with it, you got it. I was surprised to find that it not only worked as advertised, it worked BETTER than advertised. In short, it's very fast, pretty cheap, fantastically reliable, and even easy to use. If you have a 10-20 meg disk, I wouldn't recommend any tape drive over this. The only disadvantage is that you have to keep switching floppies. Our version wasn't even copy protected. Bad points: To do all of this, they had to use a nonstandard disk layout. Therefore, the disks are totaly unreadable by DOS. You MUST use the restore program to get the stuff off. However, they pack 400K onto a 360K disk, and almost 1.5 meg onto a 1.2 meg disk. The program is impressive and very functional. Before making a decision one way or the other, try getting a demonstration from your dealer. At the very least, you'll probably be impressed. -- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% - Jim Frost * The Madd Hacker - UUCP: ..!harvard!bu-cs!bucsb!madd | ARPANET: madd@bucsb.bu.edu CSNET: madd%bucsb@bu-cs | BITNET: cscc71c@bostonu -----------------------------------+-----------+------------------------ "Use the key, unlock the door | o/ <- Rudolf the See what Fate might have in store." -- Rush | _O_ waving penguin