mfrohman@digi.lonestar.org (Matthew Frohman) (04/04/91)
I am considering buying a Colorado tape backup system for my pc. I would
like to hear from anyone who has had an experience with them. Specifically,
I am interested in backing up a collection of 3 1/2" floppies.
I separate my disks into logical groupings (spreadsheets, graphics, etc.) and
create each disk with a volume label that reflects the group and a sequential
number (i.e., GRAPH-001, GRAPH-002). What I would like to do is back up ALL
of the floppies (sort of like dumping all of the disks to tape) so that when
I add new files to a disk, I can do an incremental backup. Does the software
allow this, or is each disk considered an individual back up? Can you do ONE
backup of ALL disks and be prompted to "INSERT NEXT DISK"?
Also, I currently have two floppy drives. I know they sell a cable for ~$30
to chain the tape drive off the B drive. Can you chain it off the A drive?
I know you can make the cable yourself. Anyone know the details?
Thanks for any help.
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Matthew Frohman texbell!digi!mfrohman OR mfrohman@digi.UUCP
OR mfrohman@digi.lonestar.orgjdwhite@iastate.edu (White Jason David) (04/05/91)
In article <1991Apr4.155954.11431@digi.lonestar.org> mfrohman@digi.lonestar.org (Matthew Frohman) writes: >I am considering buying a Colorado tape backup system for my pc. I would >like to hear from anyone who has had an experience with them. Specifically, >I am interested in backing up a collection of 3 1/2" floppies. > >I separate my disks into logical groupings (spreadsheets, graphics, etc.) and >create each disk with a volume label that reflects the group and a sequential >number (i.e., GRAPH-001, GRAPH-002). What I would like to do is back up ALL >of the floppies (sort of like dumping all of the disks to tape) so that when >I add new files to a disk, I can do an incremental backup. Does the software >allow this, or is each disk considered an individual back up? Can you do ONE >backup of ALL disks and be prompted to "INSERT NEXT DISK"? > >Also, I currently have two floppy drives. I know they sell a cable for ~$30 >to chain the tape drive off the B drive. Can you chain it off the A drive? >I know you can make the cable yourself. Anyone know the details? > >Thanks for any help. > > >-- >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- >Matthew Frohman texbell!digi!mfrohman OR mfrohman@digi.UUCP > OR mfrohman@digi.lonestar.org I have a Jumbo 120 model. All you need to do is buy a ~$4 connector that goes into the drive, and attach it to your current floppy cable.
ee5391aa@triton.unm.edu (Duke McMullan n5gax) (04/05/91)
In article <1991Apr4.155954.11431@digi.lonestar.org> mfrohman@digi.lonestar.org (Matthew Frohman) writes: >I am considering buying a Colorado tape backup system for my pc. I would >like to hear from anyone who has had an experience with them. Specifically, >I am interested in backing up a collection of 3 1/2" floppies. >I separate my disks into logical groupings (spreadsheets, graphics, etc.) and >create each disk with a volume label that reflects the group and a sequential >number (i.e., GRAPH-001, GRAPH-002). What I would like to do is back up ALL >of the floppies (sort of like dumping all of the disks to tape) so that when >I add new files to a disk, I can do an incremental backup. Does the software >allow this, or is each disk considered an individual back up? Can you do ONE >backup of ALL disks and be prompted to "INSERT NEXT DISK"? Hmmmm...I _think_ this will work with no difficulty, but I can't swear to it ...AND I CAN'T FIND THE (#@$*(#^%$*(!! MANUAL! I just use mine to back up the hard disk, so I can't really address that question now. >Also, I currently have two floppy drives. I know they sell a cable for ~$30 >to chain the tape drive off the B drive. Can you chain it off the A drive? >I know you can make the cable yourself. Anyone know the details? Interesting. My 286 box has 5.25" (a:) and a 3.5" (b:) floppies. I took an extra edge connector and stuck it on the present floppy cable, and instal- led the tape drive in an empty half-height bay. From the way the manual read, I thought I'd lose either the a: or b: drive. Nope. Both drives work fine and the tape drive works fine. The backup tape software works fine, but it chaps me that it's too damn interactive. I wish I could just put a backup .bat file in there, run it and walk away. Nope. The software has to have its hand held. It also gripes me that the tape drive can't be simply regarded as a slow, large disk drive, but, no.... Other than those grumbles and a tremendously annoying lack of tech. data, I love it. ;^) d
feg@moss.ATT.COM (Forrest Gehrke,2C-119,7239,ATTBL) (04/06/91)
In article <1991Apr4.155954.11431@digi.lonestar.org> mfrohman@digi.lonestar.org (Matthew Frohman) writes: > >I separate my disks into logical groupings (spreadsheets, graphics, etc.) and >create each disk with a volume label that reflects the group and a sequential >number (i.e., GRAPH-001, GRAPH-002). What I would like to do is back up ALL >of the floppies (sort of like dumping all of the disks to tape) so that when >I add new files to a disk, I can do an incremental backup. Does the software >allow this, or is each disk considered an individual back up? Can you do ONE >backup of ALL disks and be prompted to "INSERT NEXT DISK"? You can do one backup of all floppies provided you read them into a hard disk directory first. Then you could do a selective backup of that directory. If you added further diskettes (even though you had deleted the files from that directory on the hard disk) you could do an incremental backup. But that incremental backup would be considered a second volume. Only if you restored the first group to the same directory on the hard disk and then added further floppies would you get a complete tape volume of that group of floppy files. This is what I plan to do. Although the CMS software will ask for "Next tape" if a tape fills up, it doesn't know anything about "Next disk". You have to remember that this tape drive is for a backup scheme and is not configured to be a slow reaction time disk drive. The CMS software does provide a file search capability, which is remarkably fast considering the media. You can restore the single found file if you wish. One of the features of the CMS software is that it will backup files listed in ascii form from a prepared file. I have not tried this yet. Perhaps someone else can respond whether this prepared list can refer to different drives so that you might alternate between A and B drives and quickly change diskettes as each is backed up. (;-)) Forrest Gehrke feg@dodger.att.com The CMS software will backup a floppy drive, but that backup is considered a separate volume on the tape. > >Also, I currently have two floppy drives. I know they sell a cable for ~$30 >to chain the tape drive off the B drive. Can you chain it off the A drive? >I know you can make the cable yourself. Anyone know the details? > The CMS tape drive can be run off the floppy drive cable that goes to your A and B drives. You need only to add another edge connector to the end of the cable which then goes to the tape drive. Since the B drive edge connector is normally at the end of the cable you either have to make a new cable or move the last floppy drive edge connector further from the end. If there is a twist in the cable of some of the wires going to the B drive (and there usually is), you have to be sure to twist that group of wires back into the same alignment they have for the A drive before adding the tape drive edge connector (while retaining that twist for the B drive). The tape drive does not have a letter designation. BTW, when backing up floppy drives, if you are using the floppy controller the tape drive has to divide its time with the floppy drive. This turns out to be slow business. CMS sells two controller cards, FC-10 and TC-15. The TC-15, in addition to being a tape controller also does hardware compression, which latter doubles the speed of backup. This, of course, is more important when backing up the hard disk. The CMS software allows you an unattended backup option, contrary to another poster I have read in this group who complained about the need for interactive backup. Anyhow, with a separate controller for the tape drive, backing up floppy drives proceeds considerably faster.
ee5391aa@triton.unm.edu (Duke McMullan n5gax) (04/06/91)
In article <1991Apr5.170102.18677@cbnewsl.att.com> feg@moss.ATT.COM (Forrest Gehrke) writes: >The CMS software allows you an unattended backup option, >contrary to another poster I have read in this group >who complained about the need for interactive backup. When are you people going to learn to listen to what I mean, and not what I say? ;^) I did write that rather badly...the backup itself is automatic, as Forrest states. The things I find to be a collective pain in the callipygian pore are 1) the tape drive taking well over a minute to orient the tape (or something) after the cartridge is pushed in, 2) the worse-than-Mac menu you have to use to do a quick-erase and 3) add a new volume label (actually, there are two labels called for, so make that 4) ), and finally 5), it will let you tell it to do a backup. If you forget to set the write tab, you have to go through 1) twice. What it does, it does well. I just wish there were some way to run it with a batch file rather a bitching operator (me!). And while we're at it, I want an 800 THz clock, 256-bit wide bus and processor archetecture, no wait states, 8 Gb memory, a flat address space over _all_ of it for MSDOS, 65,536 parallel slave processors of the type just described, and and and and and...guuuuuukkkk.... C:>
bgeer@javelin.sim.es.com (Bob Geer) (04/07/91)
mfrohman@digi.lonestar.org (Matthew Frohman) writes: >Also, I currently have two floppy drives. I know they sell a cable for ~$30 >to chain the tape drive off the B drive. Can you chain it off the A drive? >I know you can make the cable yourself. Anyone know the details? My floppy cable had sufficient length between the adapter connector & the 1st floppy connector that I just added an additional connector between them, no twists in the cable, connector pin 1 in line with the existing connector's pin 1. With CMS firmware vers. 40 or later, there's no conflict with the CMS + 2 floppies. -- <> Bob `Bear' Geer <> bgeer%javelin@bambam.dsd.es.com <> <> Alta-holic <> speaking only for myself, one of my many tricks <> <> Salt Lake City, <> "We must strive to be more than we are, Lal." <> <> Ootah <> -- Cmdr. Data, learning schmaltz <>
stevek@hpfcmgw.HP.COM (Steve Kauder) (04/10/91)
>In article <1991Apr5.170102.18677@cbnewsl.att.com> feg@moss.ATT.COM >(Forrest Gehrke) writes: > >>The CMS software allows you an unattended backup option, >>contrary to another poster I have read in this group >>who complained about the need for interactive backup. > >When are you people going to learn to listen to what I mean, and not what I >say? ;^) > >I did write that rather badly...the backup itself is automatic, as Forrest >states. The things I find to be a collective pain in the callipygian pore are >1) the tape drive taking well over a minute to orient the tape (or something) >after the cartridge is pushed in, 2) the worse-than-Mac menu you have to use >to do a quick-erase and 3) add a new volume label (actually, there are two >labels called for, so make that 4) ), and finally 5), it will let you tell it >to do a backup. If you forget to set the write tab, you have to go through 1) >twice. > >What it does, it does well. I just wish there were some way to run it with >a batch file rather a bitching operator (me!). > >And while we're at it, I want an 800 THz clock, 256-bit wide bus and processor >archetecture, no wait states, 8 Gb memory, a flat address space over _all_ of >it for MSDOS, 65,536 parallel slave processors of the type just described, and >and and and and...guuuuuukkkk.... This poster seems to be rather upset for reasons which are not obvious at all to me. Perhaps a little more maturity is called for? That's another notes string... I have a Colorado Memory Systems Jumbo 120 tape backup. I run it entirely from a batch file by using the command line options in the CMS software. I have the batch file (1) retension the tape [again], (2) erase the tape directory, (3) backup my C: drive, and (4) backup my D: drive. I have the last three of these activities as optional in my batch file. I use a little utility called ASKKEY in the batch file to prompt for input. Depending on the input, I have set it up to skip around functions. If I do nothing, the batch files does the activities listed above. I am extremely pleased with the CMS product. It was easy to install and works wonderfully well. Instead of 40-60 floppies, I just put in a tape and come back an hour later. Instead of organizing 40-60 floppies, I have a small tape which fits easily in a shirt pocket. I did try to run the CMS software in a Desqview window. If that had worked, I could have had the backup running in the background while I still did work. [Yes, there is some risk of have a file open while backing it up.] Anyway, the CMS software definitely didn't work with Desqview for me. Too bad. I still highly recommend it. sk