*BSD News Article 89964


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From: j@uriah.heep.sax.de (J Wunsch)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: best backup mechanism
Date: 23 Feb 1997 22:15:12 GMT
Organization: Private BSD site, Dresden
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"Ted Mittelstaedt" <tedm@portsoft.com> wrote:

> The original SCSI tape drives that people used were 1/4" standard-sized
> cartridge drives.  You might be able to buy one of these at the above URL,
> but I think the largest size commonly used was 1.3GB

They are available much larger now.  I'm using a Tandberg 2.5 GB
drive, plus hardware compression.  It can read cartridges down to
QIC-24, and write down to QIC-120.

> There were a few hybrid drives that came out that used the QIC-80
> minicartridge tapes crossed with a SCSI interface, no information on
> whether or not these will work for you.

They usually use proprietary cartridges and/or recording formats,
alas.

> Later on people used 8mm DAT drives.  For example, you can get an Exabyte
> 8200 2GB dat drive for $350 at the above URL or an 8500 5GB drive for $800 
>  The 8500's can be upgraded to hardware compression with a board for an
> extra $300, they then are 8500C's

Beware of Exabyte.  They are the ``firmware patch of the week''
company.  Once you've obtained a firmware for your Exabyte drive that
works for you, it's great.  But you often have to go a thorny way to
that point.  (I've got an EXB8500 drive at work that won't spit out
its cartridge anymore.  I'm already _very_ used to its innards, i can
disassemble and assemble the drive with closed eyes, but still, i
cannot figure out why the heck it doesn't properly rewind the tape.)

-- 
cheers, J"org

joerg_wunsch@uriah.heep.sax.de -- http://www.sax.de/~joerg/ -- NIC: JW11-RIPE
Never trust an operating system you don't have sources for. ;-)