KB13@TE.CC.CMU.EDU (Ken Burner) (07/09/87)
Paul Clayton of UPENN writes that he is interested in backup
alternatives to traditional half-inch tape. So are we at CMU. We've
been watching the WORM and R/W optical market, eagerly anticipating
a downward shift in the cost of this technology, which has yet to come.
Out of the blue, we begin hearing of potentially interesting
things some people are doing with ordinary T-120 VHS video tapes. Two
we've heard of are Digi-Data, who claim to pack 2.5GB on a single
cartridge using their ~$4,000 drive and Honeywell Instruments, who claim
to cram 5.2GB on one little tape using their ~$45,000 drive. At least
one other company, Exabyte, is using the 8mm videotape format.
At our central computer center we have about 100GB of data on-
line; on the entire campus, we're approaching the 500GB mark for VMS and
Unix systems combined. Data in these quantities presents a formidable
backup challenge.
I'd be interested in hearing about other manufacturers pursuing
video technology for backup purposes. I'm especially interested in
talking with people who have some experience with these or other similar
products. Please get in touch if this is also one of your concerns.
-Ken Burner (KB13@TE.CC.CMU.EDU)
Asst. Dir. for Hardware Systems
Carnegie-Mellon University
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