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Date:	Wed, 29 Aug 2001 20:03:54 PDT
From:	Harry Chris Motin <hmotin@attglobal.net >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: Re: Tape Drive & Backup

Content Type: text/plain

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OK, I was just wondering. I guess everyone has their backup preferences,
likes and dislikes. For the record, I use BA 2000 Workstation on my OS/2
computer and BA II on my wife's Windows 98 machine. The uncompressed
file formats are the same for those 2 programs, so I can easily take
files from one machine to the other (they are not networked).

I have not had any problems with BA 2000 or BA II, so maybe I can help
you with yours, if you want to switch to them. I really like both
programs. On my Os/2 machine, I've done a couple of complete restores
onto newly formatted HDD's, using a minimal OS/2 system, booted from
floppies. It works just fine.

I previously used a 1GB Jaz drive for my backups, but the unit died on
me. Before that happened I had to replace a cartridge that went bad. Jaz
drives are expensive and so are the cartridges. I felt that I did not
get my money's worth out of that setup. Therefore, I switched to HDD's
and I've found that now to be the most convenient. I back up to a spare
drive, which is different than my boot drive. After each backup I keep a
copy of the most one on the HDD that contains my bootup system (1 copy
takes up little space). That way, if I have a hard drive failure
somewhere, I still have a working backup on the other physical drive. I
assume that 2 drives will not crash at once. Spare HDD's are cheap now
and you can place many backups on one physical unit, unlike tapes and
CD's. Also, they are much faster than tapes or CD's. The only thing I
give up is a backup that I can keep some place else besides at my
machine. The chances of a disaster at the machine (a fire, etc.) are
pretty low (I hope??).

If you would like to try BA 2000 and have any questions or problems,
please let me know.

HCM
________________________________________________________________________

"J. R. Fox" wrote:
>
> =====================================================
> If you are responding to someone asking for help who
> may not be a member of this list, be sure to use the
> REPLY TO ALL feature of your email program.
> =====================================================
>
> > In <3B8C4D11.D17A7E6C@pacbell.net>, on 08/28/01
> > at 06:00 PM, "J. R. Fox" said:
> >
> > >Today, I blew several shots of
> > >compressed air into the drive. Immediately after that, I
> > >successfully backed up two partitions totalling 800 meg., and restored a
> > >few files from an older tape, which had accidentally gotten deleted from
> > >my hard drive.
>
> Steven replied:
>
> > Sounds like a dust problem. The cleaning cartridge can only remove oxides
> > from the heads. Too much dust will make the position sensors unreliable.
>
> Could be . . . although the few times I've opened the case, the amount of dust
> evident inside was surprisingly low. I was told that DDS-2 drives did not have
> position sensors (or maybe that was some _other_ type of sensor ?).
>
> > Eventually, the unit will need to be opened and the capstan rollers will
> > need to be cleaned.
>
> Is this just a matter of removing the drive itself, for proper access, or are you
> suggesting that I would need to physically disassemble the drive, at least
> partially ? Can this not alternately be accomplished with some sort of vacuuming,
> or long cleaning swabs + denatured alcohol ? The drive's manual states that no
> user service is required, other than periodic use of the cleaning cartridge, and
> that opening the unit would void the warranty. Maybe they should make a cleaning
> cartridge that cleans the capstan rollers . . . .
>
> Jordan
>
> Harry Motin wrote:
>
> > I'm curious. What backup programs to you use? Can you backup to
> > different media, using these programs, beside your tape drive.
>
> On the OS/2 side, I prefer BackMaster (which seems to be kaput on the market,
> though I'm in the process of confirming this), but also have Back Again 2000. For
> NT, I have BA/II workstation, also from CDS. I have had some anomalies and
> difficulties with the latter two, and consequently don't use them quite as often,
> nor am I as familiar with all of their capabilities. BackMaster is definitely tape
> only, although it supports a variety of tape formats: older QIC/80, Travan, DAT.
> Not sure about the CDS programs, which seemed to be mainly for DAT format, but
> Brent told me that the forthcoming edition of BA/2000 Server edition (see my note
> in the General List digest) will back up to a number of other media, incl.
> CD-spanning.
>
> To be clear here, I believe in redundancy, esp. for critical stuff. Therefore, I
> also do partition Image backups via PowerQuest's Drive Image. (These are very
> different backup approaches, and complement each other. You can't just go in and
> extract specific files from a partition image.) So far, this has worked fine for
> Warp, but my NT partitions got much too large for CDs to hold them some time ago,
> so I copy those onto tape anyway. DI 4.0 introduced a direct-image-to-CD feature +
> CD-spanning, but it never worked on my Plextor burner, and I initiated an "APAR"
> with PowerQuest about this. Perhaps I'll have to try the competing GHOST, which is
> also supposed to have these features, even though I'm rather wary of having any
> further dealings with Symantec.
>
> > If so, why don't you try installing a spare hard drive, if you've got one, and
> > backing up to that. Bypass the tape altogether before it fails on your
> > at the least opportune time (you know that it will!!). If you do not
> > have a spare HDD, perhaps some space somewhere on your existing
> > installed hard drive? Best to secure a reliable backup system as soon as
> > you can.
>
> Several reasons: I insist on having **OFF-site** as well as on-site backup. That's
> very important, and mandates some form of removeable media. DAT is faster than
> most other backup methods. I spent major $$ on the tape drive and media supplies,
> so I'm going to do whatever I can to get the value out of it. I do have a 2nd. H/D
> in this box, but most of the free space on it is being reserved for ECS and a
> future maintenance partition for NT. No plans to add a 3rd. drive ! I might
> possibly replace one of these two H/Ds with a larger one, but it still won't
> satisfy the key requirement of Point #1. I would only let H/D space be a very
> temporary resting place for a backup, en route to moving it to removeable media. A
> close relative had a nearly new IBM hard drive (said to be one of the best
> available, at the time) die on her. She got a replacement H/D for free, but with
> no adequate backup regime in place, the lost time, expense (for the consultant who
> reconstructed her W98, installed app.s, and data -- as best he could), plus
> considerable aggravation, testifies to the limitations of storing your backups
> where they can perish along with the hard drive. My relative is not at all
> technically adept, but had she had good (and sufficiently recent) partition images
> stored elsewhere, she could have picked up more or less where she left off,
> quickly, with no or minimal consultant fees.
>
> I don't have much interest in removeable hard drives. I suppose a fully installed
> dupe spare is within the realm of possibility, but keeping it up to date would be a
> pain.
>
> Jordan
>
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