milo@ndmath.UUCP (Greg Corson) (03/13/88)
Does anyone happen to know of any backup devices that can be used on a
unix-based VaxStation 2000? It seems the only alternatives from DEC
are floppies (about 70-90 to backup the drive) or TK50 tapes (which cost
nearly $5,000!). My problem with DEC is that I am just not prepared
to buy a backup device which (nearly) costs as much as the rest of the
system combined!
If you know of any companies supplying backup devices that work with
VaxStation 2000's running Unix please send me mail. Some form of tape
cartrige would be fine, one of those 8mm video-tape based backup
devices would be great. Main thing is price...the VaxStation in question
would be my new "home/part-time software developer" workstation. I would
like to find a backup device that costs under $2500 or so if possible but
info on anything cheaper than DEC's would be appreciated.
<*FLAME ON*>
DEC...get with it! A low cost computer like the VaxStation makes a great
Personal Computer...but a low cost computer MUST have a reasonablly low
cost backup device.
<*FLAME OFF*>
Greg Corson
19141 Summers Drive
South Bend, IN 46637
(219) 277-5306 (weekdays till 6 PM eastern)
{pur-ee,rutgers,uunet}!iuvax!ndmath!milo
sparks@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Steve Gaarder) (03/15/88)
In article <1073@ndmath.UUCP> milo@ndmath.UUCP (Greg Corson) writes: >Does anyone happen to know of any backup devices that can be used on a >unix-based VaxStation 2000? It seems the only alternatives from DEC >are floppies (about 70-90 to backup the drive) or TK50 tapes (which cost >nearly $5,000!). Worse than that, TK50's are extremely unreliable. One possibility is to get an ethernet interface and hook your 2000 to an IBM-clone PC. Then you can use NCSA's telnet/ftp/rcp software and back up over the network. How much this will cost I'm not sure. -- Steve Gaarder Cornell University, 171 Hollister, Ithaca NY 14853 607-255-5389 UUCP: {cmcl2,shasta,rochester,uw-beaver}!cornell!batcomputer!sparks BITNET: sparks@crnlthry.BITNET ARPA: sparks@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu
pavlov@hscfvax.harvard.edu (G.Pavlov) (03/15/88)
In article <4044@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>, sparks@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Steve Gaarder) writes: > > Worse than that, TK50's are extremely unreliable. I am not exactly fond of DEC (and less fond of it as time passes) but I do wonder how true this statement is anymore. Slow, yes, media overpriced, yes, hard to figure out at times, yes. But "extremely unreliable" ? Our own ex- perience with heavy use of two of these for the past 20 months has been good, from the perspective of reliability greg pavlov, fstrf, amherst, ny
ward@cfa.harvard.EDU (Steve Ward) (03/17/88)
I agrtee that there should be a much lower cost backup approach. I guess the assumption is that you have an Ethernet LAN with server support somewhere. I must say that the TK50 has been reliable for us for quite some time. Early TK50's did have problems, mostly with defective cartridges amnufactured by #M Corp for DEC.
eclam@grand.waterloo.edu (Edmund C. Lam) (03/17/88)
In article <538@hscfvax.harvard.edu> pavlov@hscfvax.harvard.edu (G.Pavlov) writes: >In article <4044@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>, sparks@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Steve Gaarder) writes: >> >> Worse than that, TK50's are extremely unreliable. I think a lot of the unreliable experiences with tk50 come from the actual tape cartidges and the BSD TMSCP driver. With new tk50 cartidges used on Ultrix 2.0+ systems, they seem to work without hassles. The VS410 CPU (microVAX 2000 and the VAXstation 2000) interfaces to its TK50 (actually a TZK50) through a SCSI interface. The TZK50 or TK50 are are using SCSI already. The drive is hooked up via a 50 pin connector. The 5380 tape controller chip which implements the slave's end of TMSCP is right on the main CPU board. If you want more exact details, order the following tech. manual from your local DEC rep, EK-VTTAA-TM-001 (aka. VAXstation 2000 and MicroVAX-2000 Technical Manual). -- -Edmund C. Lam (University of Waterloo) <eclam@grand.waterloo.edu> <eclam%grand%waterloo.csnet> [network wish bone]!watmath!grand!eclam
anton@ai.toronto.edu (Anton Geshelin) (03/20/88)
TK-50's were extremely unreliable until the latest revision. We went through 6 units in 3 months. DEC seems to be replacing old TK-50 drives. The new drive has lasted for 4 months without a problem.
edw@pinot.zehntel.com (Ed Wright) (03/22/88)
They aren't the fastest, and they sure don't fit anything else we have,
but the tk 50s do work.
I'm using 3 vaxstation 2000 each w/ hard drive .
Also connected are 1 tk 50 and an mc-200 8 way terminal doodah.
stuff works. I have been known just to move stuff across the network
to another drive as a lazy backup.
ed wright
Never try to teach a
>>>>>> ucbvax--\ pig to sing. It wastes
>>>>>>>> sun -->----zehntel !edw>/dev/null :-) your time and it
>>>>>> varian--/ and it annoys the pig.