baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) (07/19/90)
I am thinking of getting a tape backup to backup my hard disk on my PC, and
would like to know what kind of experiences that people have had with their
systems. Specifically,
o Which brand of tape backup do you have?
o How long does it take to do a full backup?
o What is the cost?
o How much can you store on a single tape?
o Is any compression used, and if so, how much compression is done?
o Have you verified the integrity of the backup?
o Which software do you use to do the backup?
o Any problems with it?
o Would you recommend the tape backup that you have?
cca10@cl.cam.ac.uk (Christopher Anderton) (07/19/90)
In article <4334@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov> baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes: >I am thinking of getting a tape backup to backup my hard disk on my PC, and >would like to know what kind of experiences that people have had with their >systems. Specifically, > > o Which brand of tape backup do you have? I use a PS2Tape Internal Backup Unit on a PS/2-80. > o How long does it take to do a full backup? About 45 minutes (upper limit) on a 115Mb disk though it depends on the fragmentation. > o What is the cost? For both drive and software you will pay somewhat less that 1000 pounds stirling but my memory is a bit hazy and prices have altered since I ordered. > o How much can you store on a single tape? 80 or 120 Mb (depending on format) > o Is any compression used, and if so, how much compression is done? Doesn't appear to be used. > o Have you verified the integrity of the backup? Yes, succesfully though on small scale. > o Which software do you use to do the backup? IBM PS2Tape Internal Tape Backup Program > o Any problems with it? No problems backing up. Human stupidity is always tough. The main problem is that this program needs 430K (approx) of memory to run in. If less than this is provided then the program can slow to a crawl. I have a separate config.sys for backing up (as I run a network server off the 80 I have quite a few drivers in there). > o Would you recommend the tape backup that you have? If you want regular (and incremental) backups off a PS2 then you could do worse, however I have limited experience of other backups. My old PDP backed up onto 5.25" floppies (YES!!) and before I got a tape backup unit (a couple of weeks after getting here 8-) ) backups (infrequent) were on 3.5" floppy. Chris Anderton -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Chris Anderton :: CCA10@UK.AC.CAM.PHX "Meaningless, Meaningless", said the :: CCA10@UK.AC.CAM.CUS Teacher. "Utterly Meaningless! Everything :: CCA10@UK.AC.CAM.CL is Meaningless."
harper@convex.com (David Harper) (07/19/90)
In article <4334@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov> baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes: >I am thinking of getting a tape backup to backup my hard disk on my PC, and >would like to know what kind of experiences that people have had with their >systems. Specifically, > > o Which brand of tape backup do you have? I use the Mountain Computer floppy based internal tape backup. I have been told that it will work in conjunction with a floppy drive B that is already installed. This requires a special floppy cable that has three connectors on it. (I have a secondary floppy controller installed so I have a dedicated port for the drive). > o How long does it take to do a full backup? Backup speed is about 2 Meg/minute for a locally attached hard drive. I also have two additional computers attached with an ARCNET LAN (using Western Digitals ViaNet O.S.) and backing up those drives over the net drops the speed to around 250K/minute. > o What is the cost? Around $300 depending on the mail order house. > o How much can you store on a single tape? 40 Meg (DC2000). > o Is any compression used, and if so, how much compression is done? No. I don't know if they offer compression on newer versions of the software or not. > o Have you verified the integrity of the backup? Yes, many times - I've never lost any data although I've had my share of disk crashes over the years. I have successfully reloaded data that was written > 4 years ago. > o Which software do you use to do the backup? The drive comes with the backup software. This will allow you to format the tape, do an image or file by file backup/restore, etc. > o Any problems with it? The only problems that I have ever had seem to be the tapes themselves. Every once in a while I will get a box and it seems that every tape in the box has trouble formatting (usually the software aborts after an excessive number of bad sectors). I have never had a vendor give me any problems on exchanging a bad box of tapes. > o Would you recommend the tape backup that you have? Absolutely. Dave Harper - Convex Computer Corp. E-mail address: 3000 Waterview Pky. Richardson, TX 75081 harper@convex.COM (214) 497-4525 (W) (214) 727-4206 (H)
hh2@prism.gatech.EDU (HAAS) (08/04/90)
In article <1990Jul19.101620.2987@cl.cam.ac.uk> cca10@phx.cam.ac.uk (Christopher Anderton) writes: >In article <4334@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov> baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes: >>I am thinking of getting a tape backup to backup my hard disk on my PC, and >>would like to know what kind of experiences that people have had with their >>systems. Specifically, >> o Which brand of tape backup do you have? >I use a PS2Tape Internal Backup Unit on a PS/2-80. This is an Irwin Tape Backup unit re-marketed by IBM. >> o How much can you store on a single tape? >80 or 120 Mb (depending on format) Depending on TAPE LENGTH. It uses DC2000 tapes for 80 MB uncompressed storage, and will achieve 120 MB if you use the EXTENDED LENGTH DC2000 tapes. The extended length tapes are 1.5x longer than the regular DC2000 tapes, so you get 1.5x normal storage no matter WHAT drive you're using (assuming the drive supports the longer tapes.) >> o Is any compression used, and if so, how much compression is done? >Doesn't appear to be used. Although I've heard a rumor that new IRWIN drive software might have compression (definitly *NO* hardware compression) Anybody know? >> o Have you verified the integrity of the backup? >Yes, succesfully though on small scale. I backup frequently, and have never had an error. >> o Which software do you use to do the backup? >IBM PS2Tape Internal Tape Backup Program Again, a program written by Irwin. >> o Would you recommend the tape backup that you have? YES. But I sure wish there was a good software package to aid backing up an AIX system with this machine. I use AIX, and the Unix backup command with this drive. It's not as fast as a DOS backup, and much more dificult to use. Apparently support for the IBM PS/2 Internal Tape Backup was an after thought by IBM. You have to gp through great pains to find a person at IBM that knows ANYTHING about the tape backup *AND* AIX, and get them to LET YOU ORDER the AIX drivers. (but it does work) -- Harry Haas GTRI/RIDL/DB "What makes it DO that!?" - Bones Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332 uucp: ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!hh2 Internet: hh2@prism.gatech.edu hhaas@{gtri01|rmadsun}.gatech.edu