*BSD News Article 68574


Return to BSD News archive

Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.mira.net.au!vic.news.telstra.net!act.news.telstra.net!imci3!imci2!news.internetMCI.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!piglet.cc.utexas.edu!not-for-mail
From: nichols@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Stewart Nichols)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Tape Backup Options
Date: 15 May 1996 10:26:03 -0500
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin
Lines: 29
Message-ID: <4nct2b$9c5@piglet.cc.utexas.edu>
References: <4n5l94$rqq@csugrad.cs.vt.edu> <4nb2d0$20d@uriah.heep.sax.de>
NNTP-Posting-Host: piglet.cc.utexas.edu

In article <4nb2d0$20d@uriah.heep.sax.de>,
J Wunsch <joerg_wunsch@uriah.heep.sax.de> wrote:

>Even DAT is called crap by many people...

Not by me.  I've been using various DAT (DDS) drives since
1991 with exactly zero (0) failures during that time period.
I have only used drives from DEC (currently the TLZ06), and
I use mostly name-brand tapes.  I am currently trying out
some off-brand tapes and have had no problems so far.  Ninety
meter tapes are cheap - about $8.00, and even less in quantity.

*****

At home I use a DEC TK50 cartridge drive with a SCSI interface
that I got at a computer show for $15.00, including a pile
of cartridges.  It only holds 90meg, but that is sufficient
for backing up the non-distribution material on my system.
If I have a crash I can re-install FreeBSD, then restore the 
/home, /etc, /usr/local, and /usr/ports trees and I'm done.

You should be wary of old drives like the TK50, however.  Parts
are hard to get, and the cartridges are expensive, about $20.00.
I have since aquired two ESDI versions of the drive to use for
spare parts when that becomes necessary - and it will be become
necessary, due to the large number of moving parts in the drive.  
$15.00 was just about the right price for such a tape drive.

stu