*BSD News Article 68373


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From: jaitken@csugrad.cs.vt.edu (Jeff Aitken)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Tape Backup Options
Date: 12 May 1996 17:30:12 -0400
Organization: Virginia Tech Computer Science Dept, Blacksburg, VA
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I need to get a tape drive to backup a number of FreeBSD machines.
Unfortunately, my boss won't spring for another 8MM DAT, but he does
seem willing to spend up to about $400.  Browsing the WWW, I found the
following tape drives which fit his budget and my capacity needs:


MFG	DESC			PRICE
-----	--------------------	-----
Conner	Tapestor 4000		 $345
Conner	Tapestor 3200 Travan	 $259
CMS	T1000 Tape Backup	 $155


However, I'm a novice when it comes to tape drives (I've only used an
Exabyte 8MM DAT for backups thusfar), so I don't know exactly what some
of this terminology means.  For example, what does "Travan" mean?
I gather it's fairly new, but I have no idea what it means.

Perusing the FAQ at http://www.freebsd.org/FAQ/ I found the following:

> 4.8. What types of tape drives are supported under FreeBSD?
>
> FreeBSD supports SCSI, QIC-02 and QIC-40/80 (Floppy based) tape drives.
> This includes 8-mm (aka Exabyte) and DAT drives. The QIC-40/80 drives
> are known to be slow.

Unfortunately, I don't know if the above mentioned drives fit this
description.  Any suggestions?  Alternatively, are there any SCSI-based
drives which hold at least 1GB (preferrably >2GB) that cost under $400?

Please email responses.  I'll post a summary in a week or so.

-- 
Jeff Aitken
jaitken@vt.edu