grant@cft.philips.nl (Joe Grant) (06/11/90)
Hi Net,
I need some information on Tops. I have a Mac II with an ethernet
card, and A/UX. Disk configuration is an 80Mb internal and an 80Mb
external. At present I have no means of backing up these drives, bar
using the 800Kb floppy - an old Mac II :-). What I was wondering was
how well would Tops solve my backup problem, while also providing
other features. I've been quoted a very serious price for the s/w
by our local Apple center, so I'll have to carefully consider my next
step. Anyway the main questions are:
1. There are two other Macs that I know of in the building, so
maybe they'll also be able to use the Tops solution. Neither has an
ethernet card, will this be a problem?
2. If I can backup over Tops, what software would be required to run
the backup or is it bundled with Tops - wishful thinking? I realise
that this question may spark a torrent of "My favourite backup s/w is X
because" answers, but then as I only have the standard Mac stuff at
present I would be interested in hear opinions on this subject also -
maybe there was a summary posted on this issue already, a pointer to
where I can get my hands on it would be greatly appreciated.
3. Will any such software also allow me to correctly backup the A/UX
partition, and can I run incremental and selective backup and recover
within the A/UX partition - I'm presuming there wouldn't be a problem
with this in the normal MacOS partitions? NB: We will be getting A/UX
2.0 "soon" so maybe this will have a bearing on the backup situation.
4. Can I use Tops to print from Mac applications on PostScript printers
connected to the SUN, if YES will this require tinkering with the
LaserWriter device in the system folder or is it achieved in some
other manner?
Any general info. people have on Tops would also be of great help.
Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree and shouldn't even be considering
Tops for the problem, if so I'd appreciate hearing where I've gone
wrong. I'm also thinking about a tape streamer purely for backups, but
then questions 2 and 3 above still hold. Also the local Apple center
are trying to interest me in a removable 42Mb HD unit, but the
salesman wasn't sure if this could be used like a humungous floppy for
backup purposes - maybe someone out there can put me straight on this
one.
Well that's my lot, thanks in advance,
Joe Grant
--
Joe Grant, Telex : 35000 phtc nl/nlmtfarr
Philips B.V., Building HKJ-p833, Telefax : (31.40.7)37222
P.O. Box 218, 5600 MD Eindhoven, E-mail : grant@nlccl.cft.philips.nl
The Netherlands. Telephone : (31.40.7)34382derosa@motcid.UUCP (John DeRosa) (06/12/90)
grant@cft.philips.nl (Joe Grant) writes: > 1. There are two other Macs that I know of in the building, so > maybe they'll also be able to use the Tops solution. Neither has an > ethernet card, will this be a problem? They have to be able to talk to each other, either through Appletalk cables (sold by Apple), Phonenet type cabling or ethernet. If the two macs are not physically connected to one another, you're dead in the water. > 2. If I can backup over Tops, what software would be required to run > the backup or is it bundled with Tops - wishful thinking? Yes you can back up over tops but it is slow and non-automated. I would not recommend it. > 3. Will any such software also allow me to correctly backup the A/UX > partition, and can I run incremental and selective backup and recover Unfortunately, I do not have any A/UX experience concerning backups. > 4. Can I use Tops to print from Mac applications on PostScript printers > connected to the SUN, No, you cannot use TOPS to print at all (even though it comes with some printer utility software, i.e. spooler). =-=-=-=-=-=- In my opinon you need some sort of large drive, tape would be cheapest. I currently use a 8mm (video) tape system from PCPC that uses the exabyte format for storage. Each tape holds 5 gigabytes but the unit costs approx $3000. Apple makes a 40meg tape unit that is less expensive. I don't recomment using another hard disk for backup, this is too expensive and wastefull. The PCPC hardware comes with some software called NetStream that really makes the system (you can purchase it seperately). This software will backup to any type of mounted storage device automatically at a pre-determined time. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= = John DeRosa, Motorola, Inc, Cellular Infrastructure Division = = e-mail: ...uunet!motcid!derosaj = = Applelink: N1111 = = I do not hold by employer responsible for any information in this message = = nor am I responsible for anything my employer may do or say. = =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
ostroff@Oswego.EDU (Boyd Ostroff) (06/15/90)
In article <1438@philtis.cft.philips.nl> grant@cft.philips.nl (Joe Grant) writes: >Hi Net, > > I need some information on Tops. I have a Mac II with an ethernet We have two mac plusses and a mac II running TOPS over AppleTalk (LocalTalk) in our office. > > 1. There are two other Macs that I know of in the building, so > maybe they'll also be able to use the Tops solution. Neither has an > ethernet card, will this be a problem? As long as you're happy with the 230KBaud speed of AppleTalk, this should not be a problem. > > 2. If I can backup over Tops, what software would be required to run > the backup or is it bundled with Tops - wishful thinking? I realise Tops just lets you mount remote volumes. They behave exactly like they were a hard disk connected directly to your local mac. You should be able to use any program just like the TOPS volume was local (with the exception that you can't copy the System file over TOPS for some reason). > Any general info. people have on Tops would also be of great help. We're very happy with TOPS for the simple kind of things we do, but if you are backing up large amounts of data over AppleTalk, it will be pretty slow. It's very easy to use; you have a desk accessory which starts it up and it's easily learned by novices. Once you've mounted a volume it appears as an icon on the desktop just like any other disk. Hope this helps.... ||| Boyd Ostroff - Tech Director - Dept of Theatre - SUNY Oswego ||| Sys Admin - "The CallBoard" - (315) 947-6414 - 1200/2400 baud ||| ostroff@oswego.oswego.edu - cboard!ostroff@oswego.oswego.edu
dvb@inmet.inmet.com (06/15/90)
Re: TOPS Stuff We, too, have a bunch of nodes on a LocalTalk network all running TOPS version 3.0. About 8-10 Macs and 4 PCs. Performance is not great, but we find that printing is no problem (only one printer right now) and copying files is also not bad, especially of the files are smallish. Remote mounting has worked flawlessly. Minor system slow-downs when there is heavy access. (But hey, all we have are SEs) A bonus with TOPS 3.0 is the Inbox stuff. All the PCs and Macs we have also have the Inbox mail package. Nice easy mail and file-enclosure mail to any of the other PCs and Macs. Kind of useful for people that do not want to figure out TOPS and/or where to find remote files. We do not have, but have seen TOPS for a Sun. And the Macs and PCs can mount a drive or partition from the Sun and pretend it is a Mac drive. Also easy to fathom and use. Interesting? Well, we like it. Let me know if you have further questions. David V. Baker Intermetrics, Inc. dvb@inmet.inmet.com