Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 20:13:02 -0700 From: Eric Lee Green <elgreen@iname.com> To: mjacob@feral.com Cc: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Subject: Re: IDE tape backup suggestions Message-ID: <99081121113304.05193@ehome.local.net> References: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9908111854040.65538-100000@semuta.feral.com>
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On Wed, 11 Aug 1999, you wrote: > > On Wed, 11 Aug 1999, Matthew Jacob wrote: > > > Onstream are 30 GB plus. And there's an IDE version. > They don't work because the drivers aren't finished yet. And yes, they're > very cheap so that you have to do things like filemarks and data defect > management in the driver. But- not bad for a drive that's < 500$. A > comparable drive is at least a DLT 7000- that's still 7K$, right? And then > you start getting into the STK and high end IBM or Ampex drives- 25K$ and > higher. If I were the tape drive divisions of these companies, I'd be > sweating a bit now. Actually, the nearest competitive drives that I can see are the AIT/DLT/Mammoth (around $2500), and perhaps closest of all, the Ecrix VXA. 33 megabytes per tape uncompressed, 3 megabytes per second, Hardware compression. Sweet. For $1295 MSRP. The Quantum 35/70 DLT's are still around $5K., and the Ecrix is almost as fast (I believe the 35/70 does 4 megabytes per second), while holding about the same amount of data, for a L OT less money... if anybody is sweating, it's Quantum. And there's other tape drives that I can't talk about (non-disclosure) that are coming down the stream, that will make Quantum sweat even more... there's one technology that looks rather promising indeed, in that the tapes will be very cheap and it will do 2 megabytes per second while holding 24 megabytes per tape, the one bad thing about Ecrix is that the tapes are a little pricey compared to, say, a DDS-3 tape (I can get DDS-3 tapes in bulk for $12 apiece). I don't think I need to tell you how outrageous DLT media is, even AIT is cheaper and AIT has a microchip on-board! So anyhow, the OnStream is rather slow compared to any of the above, and its reliability will probably be equivalent to that of other consumer-type drives, such as the TR-4 tape drives (i.e., nothing to write home about). OnStream isn't worrying the enterprise backup people, who figure that their speed and robustness will keep them in business. On the other hand, I want one for my personal backup when the driver is ready -- I'm sick of needing two or three TR-4 tapes to backup my computer here at home, and I can't afford an Ecrix! Not to mention that the OnStream may be twice as fast as my TR-4, meaning that much less time needed to back up... -- Eric Lee Green http://members.tripod.com/e_l_green mail: e_l_green@hotmail.com ^^^^^^^ Burdening Microsoft with SPAM! To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message
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