mike@lll-lcc.aRpA (Mike Hummell) (03/25/88)
Following is the original query, then a SUMMARY of responses received.
THANKYOU to all who responded. (I replied to all responses but our
MAILER kicked most of them back). I have written to all the vendors
referred to below, and will post summary of their products when I
receive their tech. info.
Appreciatively ... MIKE HUMMELL
> I would like to investigate available VCR-Backup products for
> IBM PC AT. Does anyone know of a list of these, a reference, or
> etc. ?
> I know of one I read of in E.E.Times Aug. 1987:
> Emerald Systems Corp. has VAST (Virtual Archival Storage Technology
> which offers a 2.2 Gigabyte capacity. I called them at (619)270-1994
> in San Diego for info: the capacities of their systems range from 60 Mbyte
> to 2.2 Gigabytes.
******************************************************************************
RESPONSES
******************************************************************************
From davy@intrepid.ecn.purdue.edu Sat Mar 19 08:49:04 1988
From: davy@intrepid.ecn.purdue.edu (Dave Curry)
To: mike@lll-lcc.llnl.gov
Subject: VCR backup systems
Date: Sat, 19 Mar 88 11:31:11 EST
I know of three:
1. Honeywell. 5.2GB (soon to be 10GB) on a VHS tape. Handles
4 MBytes/sec transfer rate. Interfaces for VAX SBI, Unibus,
etc. Not cheap, ~$35,000.
2. Digidata. 2.3GB on a VHS tape. Transfer rate is around
250 Kbytes/sec. Has a SCSI interface, speaks standard
Pertec tape drive protocol. I think the price is around
$6,000.
3. Exabyte. 2.3GB on a 8mm tape. SCSI interface. Transfer
rate around 250 Kbytes/sec. This box is being remarketed
by several companies including Perfectbyte and Systems
Industries. Any 8mm drive you see that does 2.3GB is
actually this drive; it's patented. Cost is something
like $3000-4000.
I keep pretty close watch for these; these are the only three I've seen.
George Goble of Purdue is evaluating the Exabyte and has done much work
with them on it. You can reach him as ghg@ee.ecn.purdue.edu if you
want more info.
From lll-winken!uunet!vsi!friedl Sat Mar 19 21:09:42 1988
Date: Sat, 19 Mar 88 23:12:09 EST
Subject: Re: VCR Backup systems - seeking list of (I know 1)
Alpha Micro has been making these for years. I have never used one
but a friend who knows about them says they are very reliable. I
think they make one for the AT but you would have to call them to
find out.
Alpha Micro
Box 25059
Santa Ana, CA 92704
(714) 957-8500
Regards,
Steve
---
Steve Friedl friedl@vsi.com or {uunet,attmail,ihnp4!amdcad!uport}!vsi!friedl
From bigtex!james@astro.as.utexas.edu Sun Mar 20 09:33:44 1988
To: mike@lll-lcc.llnl.gov
Subject: Re: VCR Backup systems - seeking list of (I know 1)
Newsgroups: comp.misc,comp.periphs,comp.sys.ibm.pc
Organization: F.B.N. Software, Austin TX
Date: 20 Mar 88 11:21:17 CST (Sun)
From: bigtex!james@astro.as.utexas.edu (James Van Artsdalen)
Look into Alpha Micro. They've been doing it for at least five years if
not longer - since before the PC came out anyway. They started with their
own computer and later added hardware for the PC.
---
James R. Van Artsdalen ...!uunet!utastro!bigtex!james "Live Free or Die"
Home: 512-346-2444 Work: 328-0282; 110 Wild Basin Rd. Ste #230, Austin TX 78746
From tim@ducat.caltech.edu Sun Mar 20 21:27:36 1988
Date: Sun, 20 Mar 88 21:27:31 pst
From: tim@ducat.caltech.edu (Tim Kay)
To: mike@lll-lcc.llnl.gov
Subject: Re: VCR Backup systems - seeking list of (I know 1)
Organization: California Institute of Technology
Alpha Micro has a card that plugs into your PC bus and an
off the shelf VCR. It can backup about 300 megabytes.
Tim
From @cypress.sgi.CS.NET:johnm@sgi.com Mon Mar 21 18:51:59 1988
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 88 11:06:19 PST
From: Foosball Addict <johnm@sgi.com>
Subject: Re: VCR Backup systems - seeking list of (I know 1)
Try:
Exabyte Corp.
David M. Perry
District Sales Manager
51 East Campbell Ave. Suite 100G
Campbell, Ca. 95008
Phone: (408) 370-6107
FAX: (713) 781-7560
It's a helical scan system that uses 8mm tape and stores up to 2.3 Gb.
John
From bellcore!bpa!vu-vlsi!devon!chessene!hermit@rutgers.edu Tue Mar 22
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 88 15:26:32 EST
From: bellcore!bpa!vu-vlsi!devon!chessene!hermit@rutgers.edu
Subject: VCR tape backups
Hello...
I happen to have the October 1986 issue of Byte next to me, and they
reviewed something called Videotrax, a VCR tape backup for the PC; whether
it works on an AT I don't know, but this was over a year ago, so who
knows...
The capacity stated is 20 Megs, the price stated is $595 for controller
board and software, $1395 for complete system (including VCR).
As I said, it's a year old, maybe they've got something better now, and an
AT version...
Alpha Microsystems
3501 Sunflower Ave.
Santa Ana, CA 92704
(714) 957-8500
--
Mark Buda, The Embattled Hermit Domain: hermit@chessene.uucp
Dumb: ...{rutger,ihnp4,cbosgd}!bpa!vu-vlsi!devon!chessene!hermit
"Dr. Johnson, can you come over right away? My father has a hibachi on his
head."
From map@maserati.siemens.com Wed Mar 23 05:49:55 1988
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 88 08:47:50 EST
From: map@maserati.siemens.com (Michael Platoff)
Subject: VCR Backup systems - seeking list of (I know 1)
Perfect Byte, Inc. sells a VCR backup system that we use on a Sun
3/50 SCSI bus. The current driver only allows one file per tape,
but they are supposedly still working on the driver. This device
is 2GB, but it doesn't do you much good unless you can write
multiple files to the tape.
Their address:
Perfect Byte, Inc.
7121 Cass St.
Omaha, NE 68132
402-554-1122
Michael Platoff
Siemens Research and Technology Labs
105 College Road East
Princeton, NJ 08540-6668
(609) 734-3354
EMAIL: map@cadillac.siemens.com
{allegra,princeton}!siemens!cadillac.siemens.com!map