From owner-freebsd-hardware Fri Nov 3 09:02:10 1995 Return-Path: owner-hardware Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) id JAA18343 for hardware-outgoing; Fri, 3 Nov 1995 09:02:10 -0800 Received: from gold.interlog.com (gold.interlog.com [198.53.145.2]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) with ESMTP id JAA18337 for ; Fri, 3 Nov 1995 09:02:05 -0800 Received: from lotbiniere.interlog.com (lotbiniere.interlog.com [198.53.146.76]) by gold.interlog.com (8.6.10/8.6.10) with ESMTP id MAA02704; Fri, 3 Nov 1995 12:01:53 -0500 Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by lotbiniere.interlog.com (8.6.11/8.6.9) with SMTP id MAA01266; Fri, 3 Nov 1995 12:07:40 -0500 Message-Id: <199511031707.MAA01266@lotbiniere.interlog.com> X-Authentication-Warning: lotbiniere.interlog.com: Host localhost didn't use HELO protocol From: "Michel Joly de Lotbiniere" Reply-to: "Michel Joly de Lotbiniere" To: Darryl Okahata Subject: Re: Known working DAT drives cc: hardware@freebsd.org In-reply-to: Message from Darryl Okahata of "Thu, 02 Nov 1995 11:41:04 PST." <199511021941.AA297181265@hpnmhjw.sr.hp.com> Date: Fri, 03 Nov 1995 12:07:38 -0500 Sender: owner-hardware@freebsd.org Precedence: bulk Darryl, I'm in the process of selecting some kind of reasonably priced SCSI-2 backup drive for my 1GB disk (o.k., that's a bit of a joke); it seems I have the choice of three different media for 1-2GB tape capacity: 1/4 inch tape (QIC 1000,2000) e.g. Tandberg Sony minitape (QIC3080) e.g. Conner, Tandberg Low end DAT (1-2GB) e.g. HP, Conner Since these are expensive devices, reliability and lack of problems over the long haul (e.g. alignment) are a major concern. I've seen earlier, lower capacity drives from Tandberg: really solid construction, and the 1/4 inch tape mechanism seems relatively simple, so probably reliable. I've not examined any of the other two types. DAT seems very attractive, with low priced media, small media storage requirements, high backup speeds, but I'm not sure of long term reliability, since this technology is far more complex mechanically than any of the others (it is, after all, an audio recording format). Also, given the fact that DAT tapes have about 1/3 of their capacity taken up by ECC (versus less than half that by other formats), what are people's experiences of the "backup that failed to restore correctly" and similar disasters with DAT? You're welcome to send me e-mail directly; I'll summarize if the response warrants it -- remove the cc: hardware@freebsd.org in that case. Regards, ========================= Michel Joly de Lotbiniere mjdl@interlog.com =========================