From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Jun 16 23:51:32 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 694771065672 for ; Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:51:32 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from cswiger@mac.com) Received: from mail-out3.apple.com (mail-out3.apple.com [17.254.13.22]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 50ED88FC20 for ; Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:51:32 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from cswiger@mac.com) Received: from relay11.apple.com (relay11.apple.com [17.128.113.48]) by mail-out3.apple.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 27B162F73081; Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:34:50 -0700 (PDT) Received: from relay11.apple.com (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by relay11.apple.com (Symantec Mail Security) with ESMTP id 1067C28085; Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:34:50 -0700 (PDT) X-AuditID: 11807130-a8b8ebb000000ead-b0-4856f8997d63 Received: from cswiger1.apple.com (cswiger1.apple.com [17.227.140.124]) by relay11.apple.com (Apple SCV relay) with ESMTP id E585028087; Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:34:49 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <103D0CB9-6E36-4D84-A0F6-D2C944C101E0@mac.com> From: Chuck Swiger To: Christopher Sean Hilton In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v924) Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:34:49 -0700 References: X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.924) X-Brightmail-Tracker: AAAAAA== Cc: FreeBSD Questions Subject: Re: Replacing tape changer with USB disk drives. X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:51:32 -0000 On Jun 16, 2008, at 3:59 PM, Christopher Sean Hilton wrote: > I run FreeBSD 7.0-STABLE on a file server and until recently used a > Tape Changer for backups. I'm considering my options for a new > backup solution. I'm actually thinking of ditching tape and using an > externally attached USB or Firewire disk drive. External drives make nice, fast external hot-standby backups. They are lousy for making long-term backups that you can take offsite, though. I can and have restored decade old 20/40GB and 40/80GB DLTtape IV cartridges, and have happily moved to a 220GB sDLT drive. I've got a few 10-year-old SCSI drives that still work, but I've yet to find a commodity PATA IDE or SATA IDE brand of drives which make it much over 5 years, and a large percentage have issues trying to get much past 3 years of heavy usage. > My experimentation isn't giving me good feelings about doing this > with FreeBSD. To start this off I installed an Adaptec USB 2.0 > interface into my server. In the time that I've been working with it > I notice that it periodically bogs down and that it has the > potential to panic the kernel and cause a reboot. I recognize that > this could be: While I really liked the AHA 1540/2940 controllers, I'm dubious about Adaptec's USB controllers. I've got a few external drives with both USB2 and Firewire 400 interfaces, and they are faster and more reliable going over Firewire. YMMV... Regards, -- -Chuck