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Date:	Sun, 4 Aug 2002 10:29:58 PST7
From:	"J. R. Fox" <jr_fox@pacbell.net >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: Re: tape backup

Content Type: text/plain

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HCM replied to Sandy:

> 1. Your history of how you made backups follows mine pretty closely. I
> started with a tape drive and BackMaster. I agree with you that the
> tapes wear out after 1 or 2 years. After that the tape drive goes south!
> Also, backing up to tapes is slooooow!

My experience runs counter to this. (I suppose a lot of this depends on what you've done for a long time, are used to, and may be heavily invested in.)
I like tape, but that's what I started with, and what I still rely on -- supplemented by image backups burned onto cd, stored elsewhere on my hard drives,
etc. SCSI tape is not all that slow. My most recent backup was two partititions worth, totalling 1.6G, and it took 42 minutes *including* the read after
write Comparison for File Verification. I think that's not too shabby. Also, I'm using an older DDS-2 model: the more recent DDS-4 standard greatly
increases capacity, and I'm told that it improved the speed quite a bit also.

A good SCSI DAT drive should give you up to 5 years of regular use. (I'm talking about a model like the Sony 11000. The retail kit on this comes with a
3 year warranty.) You need to run a cleaning cassette on it periodically. The apparent premature failure I had with my HP model turned out to be due
to a SCSI cable that needed to be replaced, and the problem went away after it was. As far as the tapes go, 2 years is probably the conservative way to
use them, but I place more weight on the number of times they are used (recorded -- reformatted -- re-recorded), discarding a tape cartridge after 5 or at
most 7 such cycles. This is apt to be more conservative than the 2-year rule, even though I rotate a fair number of these tapes. The tapes themselves
are quite cheap, until you get into the 125 meter and above sizes. These little tapes are much more portable than any hard drive. And hard drives can
also fail.

The one place I agree with you is that the cost factors no longer compares. The Sony drive I mentioned above you will not find anywhere for less than
about $900., and $1100. is more typical. You can buy at least 3 *premium grade*, good capacity hard drives for that amount. Still, when I recently had
my system redone with upgraded components, and had the opportunity to add a 3rd. H/D as a plug-in, plug-out option, I decided to pass on it. It would
further complicate an already loaded (heavy !) and complicated box, play havoc with my drive lettering (which already extends out to "U" !), and possibly
require extra cooling. While I may revisit that decision at some later date, I have a considerable library of DAT cassettes, some of which I might need
to access, so I think I would alternately have to at least consider getting a replacement tape drive.

Earlier in this thread, the DVD-Ram idea was dismissed as an option for Peter. Is 4.7G per DVD really a trivial capacity for some of your needs ? If the
speed, cost, and reliability of this option ever lined up just right, I know that capacity would not be even close to trivial for me ! Not anytime soon,
that's for sure.

Jordan

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