Re: DAT Loader failures: secret revealed!
Most guys I know with DAT loaders burn the heads up within a year (your mileage will vary). Thanks for your overview. When we used DAT, we had three drives. Each one went in at least once a year for warranty service. Once warranty expired, it was cheaper to simply replace the drive. Since switching to AIT over a year ago, no service has been necessary at all. Dan Knight, IS manager/webmaster [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baker Book House Company http://www.bakerbooks.com 6030 East Fulton 616-676-9185 x146 Ada, Michigan 49301 fax 616-676-9573 Macs for productivity, Unix for stability, Windows for solitaire -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ For urgent issues, please contact Dantz technical support directly at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 925.253.3050.
Re: tape capacity
Reality check, I've been getting about 27GB onto a 20GB/40GB drive. This is typical. You should be able to get 17-18GB on the drive on average. Par for the course. We get 33-36 GB on our 25 GB native AIT tapes. Warning, my rant follows: What I don't get is that they have not improved the compression on tape drives all that much. I mean, compression programs regularly get 4:1 to 24:1 compression depending on the data. Heck, a JPEG image is typically 12:1 compression. JPEG is a lossy compression. I'm sure you don't want to restore files with some of the data missing. Dan Knight, IS manager/webmaster [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baker Book House Company http://www.bakerbooks.com 6030 East Fulton 616-676-9185 x146 Ada, Michigan 49301 fax 616-676-9573 Macs for productivity, Unix for stability, Windows for solitaire -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ For urgent issues, please contact Dantz technical support directly at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 925.253.3050.
Re: iBook clients
We have an orange an a blue iBook, both running Mac OS 8.6. The orange gets 4.5 MB / min and the blue one doens't like Retrospect at all! What exactly doesn't it like? Is it just s-l-o-w? If so, look into Apple's Duplexer to force ethernet to a fixed speed and duplex setting. Dan Knight, IS manager/webmaster [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baker Book House Company http://www.bakerbooks.com 6030 East Fulton 616-676-9185 x146 Ada, Michigan 49301 fax 616-676-9573 Macs for productivity, Unix for stability, Windows for solitaire -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ For urgent issues, please contact Dantz technical support directly at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 925.253.3050.
Re: Backing up Appleshare server
Stefan Jeglinski One option FWIW is to get an old cx and run SIMS on it for your mail. We actually run SIMS on Mac-on-Linux on LinuxPPC (works great). We use ASIP for file sharing, but I can't imagine anyone using ASIP mail for anything, it is so lame. Second. I've run SIMS on as low as a Mac II. Also on a IIsi, IIfx, Quadra 650, Power Mac 6100, SuperMac J700, and iMac, both Rev. B and Blueberry 350 MHz models. Wonderful program, great email support list, fantastic anti-spam features. Dan Knight, IS manager/webmaster [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baker Book House Company http://www.bakerbooks.com 6030 East Fulton 616-676-9185 x146 Ada, Michigan 49301 fax 616-676-9573 Macs for productivity, Unix for stability, Windows for solitaire -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ For urgent issues, please contact Dantz technical support directly at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 925.253.3050.
Notes on VXA
Just saw this on the MacInTouch Ecrix Reader Report page http://www.macintouch.com/ecrix.html Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 09:36:21 -0400 From: Matt Warren Subject: More Ecrix notes Hello Ric, I have had similar experience with the VXA-1 drive. I run it with Retrospect on a G3 that also runs AppleShare IP and backs up 5 networked Macs. We initially had capacity problems with the drive. The native capacity for their big tapes is 33 GB and we were getting around 20 GB. An email to Ecrix solved the problem. The drive can be run in two modes, speed optimized and capacity optimized. If you are backing up over a network with some slow clients, you will not get the best capacity on the tapes as the unit ships from the factory in speed mode. They offered to ship me a tape that would do the mode change just by inserting the tape (much like a cleaning session). This can also be done through their Windows utilities. I moved a SCSI card from a Mac to a PC and ran the util and did the change right away. After all this trouble, I noticed the unit has an admin serial port and I'd be the util could be run from Virtual PC just fine. Since then, capacity is fine and the drive is joy to use. Also, we have the cool black model but they also ship a translucent unit. Peace, Matt Warren This explains why I only got 19 GB on my first tape! According to today's update, a Mac utility to handle the mode switch and update the firmware is due within the next two weeks. Hooray! Now I'll be able to double what I'm storing on those $80 tapes. Dan Knight, IS manager/webmaster [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baker Book House Company http://www.bakerbooks.com 6030 East Fulton 616-676-9185 x146 Ada, Michigan 49301 fax 616-676-9573 Macs for productivity, Unix for stability, Windows for solitaire -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ For urgent issues, please contact Dantz technical support directly at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 925.253.3050.
Re: Advice requested: tape system
However our company has grown some over time and the use of CD-R is no longer a real option as it takes too long to do a full backup of the 30GB or so of data on the LAN. I like VXA. Tapes hold 33 MB before compression, although I haven't hit that level on my home network -- probably due to slow 6100s and Quadras not able to send data fast enough. Cost for the drive ranges from $600 to $1200+, depending on the deal you manage to find. Tapes are $80 each. At work, we use AIT, which has a native capacity of 25 GB and averages about 35 GB compressed. AIT seems to work better backing up older, slower Macs on the network. I've never run *under* the tapes rated capacity, as I did with my first VXA tape at home. Cost of drives is much higher ($2000+). Tapes are about $80, also. I have no experience with DLT. Dan Knight, IS manager/webmaster [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baker Book House Company http://www.bakerbooks.com 6030 East Fulton 616-676-9185 x146 Ada, Michigan 49301 fax 616-676-9573 Macs for productivity, Unix for stability, Windows for solitaire -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Problems?: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
A personal story
I posted this on Low End Mac last night. If anyone ever questions the wisdom of daily backup, have them read this article. We lost a half-day of productivity during trouble-shooting, but once we restored from backup, everything worked perfectly. http://lowendmac.com/musings/tips.html It was the kind of nightmare every information systems manager dreads: the server kept crashing. I spent most of last Friday morning wrestling our AppleShare IP server back into shape. It had crashed twice after I left Thursday afternoon -- and then at least four more times Friday as I tried to fix things. Fortunately we were prepared. Here's how you can be prepared when disaster strikes. Back Up Everything I can't say enough about backup Dan Knight, IS manager/webmaster [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baker Book House Company http://www.bakerbooks.com 6030 East Fulton 616-676-9185 x146 Ada, Michigan 49301 fax 616-676-9573 Macs for productivity, Unix for stability, Windows for solitaire -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Problems?: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Retro Speed
1999, Power Mac G3/300 (blue), AIT, shared 10Base-T ethernet, 59.2 MB/min. backing up an iMac, 229 MB/min. backing up the server 2000, Power Mac G3/300, AIT, switched 10/100 ethernet, 347.6 MB/min best throughput, 207 MB/min. backing up the server Dan Knight, information systems manager [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dan, what SCSI card do you have for those? Adaptec 2930CU. I also think AIT runs faster than DLT and that our second AIT drive runs faster than our first. Dan Knight, information systems manager [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baker Book House Company http://www.bakerbooks.com 6030 East Fulton 616-676-9185 x146 Ada, Michigan 49301 fax 616-676-9573 - Macintosh: Love bug resistant, always Y2K ready -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Problems?: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Retro client on an ASIP server
We're looking into getting an AppleShare IP server for filesharing and it has brought to my attention that an ASIP server cannot be used as a Retrospect client! Well, somebody must have forgotten to tell my server about it, 'cuz it works great as a Retrospect client. Now, I wouldn't recommend using an ASIP server as a Retrospect *server* for performance reasons, but some people are even doing that successfully. Funny thing is, Apple used to sell servers, such as our Workgroup Server 80, with a DAT drive and Retrospect. We use QuicKeys on our ASIP and FileMaker servers to shut down ASIP and FMPro Server, respectively, at about 1:00 a.m. in anticipation of backup. I relaunch FMPro Server first thing in the morning (6:30 or so) and usually run Norton on one or two partitions of our file server before restarting it at about 7:00 a.m. By shutting down these programs, we don't have to worry about live databases and other files not getting backed up. (I also have QuicKeys set to relaunch ASIP and FMPro Server at about 7:30 a.m. should something come up and I'm not able to do so manually.) Dan Knight, information systems manager [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baker Book House Company http://www.bakerbooks.com 6030 East Fulton 616-676-9185 x146 Ada, Michigan 49301 fax 616-676-9573 - Macintosh: Love bug resistant, always Y2K ready -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Problems?: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Retro Speed
I keep all my information in databases. It's kinda fun looking back like this. 1995, Workgroup Server 80 (Quadra 800), DAT, shared 10Base-T ethernet, best throughput 13.9 MB/min. (14.0 MB/min. backing up the server itself) 1996, Power Mac 6100/66, DAT, shared 10Base-T ethernet, 18.8 MB/min. (36.7 MB/min. backing up the server itself) 1998, Power Mac 6100/66, DAT 2, shared 10Base-T ethernet, 38.5 MB/min. backing up PCI Power Macs. 62.5 MB/min. backing up the server 1999, Power Mac G3/300 (blue), AIT, shared 10Base-T ethernet, 59.2 MB/min. backing up an iMac, 229 MB/min. backing up the server 2000, Power Mac G3/300, AIT, switched 10/100 ethernet, 347.6 MB/min best throughput, 207 MB/min. backing up the server Dan Knight, information systems manager [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baker Book House Company http://www.bakerbooks.com 6030 East Fulton 616-676-9185 x146 Ada, Michigan 49301 fax 616-676-9573 - Macintosh: Love bug resistant, always Y2K ready -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Problems?: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: choosing a tape drive
I appreciate the thoughtful discussion of this topic. The way I figure, in order, the most important factors regarding the tape backup system are: 1. Reliability 2. Performance 3. Ease 4. Cost What about capacity? That said, I think such a listing oversimplifies the equation. What if Sony came out with an incredibly reliable backup systems using RAID 5 and three IBM 75 GB hard drives. Reliability, performance, and ease would be out of this world -- but cost would be prohibitive, as you'd have to buy a new RAID array every time you filled up the 150 GB storage space. Thus, cost is not at the bottom of the pile. This may sound a bit philosophical, but a simple ranking of factors does an injustice to the complexities of the decision making process. 1. Reliability. Nobody wants an unreliable backup mechanism. Nobody will last long in the business selling one. We can rule out unreliable drives, so this is a binary decision. 2. I'm assuming you mean throughput here. Beyond a certain point, somewhere around 60-70 MB/min., you saturate 10Base-T. I don't know of any backup system that can saturate 100Base-T, let alone Gigabit ethernet. The key here isn't necessarily the fastest mechanism, but a fast enough one for today and the next 2-3 years. That said, for some users USB is adequate. 3. Ease is ambiguous. For me, ease would encompass how many tapes or disks constitute a backup set. At home, I'd like to stick with one (VXA gave me 19 GB on my first backup tape; that lasted well over a month). At work, that's just not feasible. We're using AIT and filling 4 25 GB tapes (33 GB compressed) per month. 4. Cost is also ambiguous. There is the cost of the mechanism, the cost of the tape, the cost of the backup set, the cost of storage. Based on your own backup needs, I suggest you plot out the costs for one, two, and three years of use. (You might even want two drives or a loader to keep backup going when the first tape fills.) This got us to AIT at work and helped me pick VXA at home. Other than reliability, we have to weight these according to our needs. I don't want to have a pile of Zip disks or backup tapes at home. At work, that's not really an option. In the end, we weigh throughput, capacity, and cost, then make what feels like the best choice based on our biases. As some have noted, those biases are very different in the home compared with the workplace. Dan Knight, information systems manager [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baker Book House Company http://www.bakerbooks.com 6030 East Fulton 616-676-9185 x146 Ada, Michigan 49301 fax 616-676-9573 - Macintosh: Love bug resistant, always Y2K ready -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Problems?: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Retrospect and Ecrix VXA
Eric Ullman notes: First of all, I personally use one of these drives, and it rocks. It replaced an aging DDS-2 drive, and I absolutely love the VXA. I use it with a SuperMac S900 clone (basically a 9500), connected to the mediocre logic-board SCSI, and I still get over 135 MB/min locally. Two more systems are also backed up as clients, but that's only over 10baseT, so we won't go there. ;-) I concur. I have an S900 with the Umax E100 card (100Base-T plus fast/wide SCSI, check Small Dog, PowerOn, Other World for possible supplies at $40 or so). My local backup is in the same ranged. Network backup peaks at about 60 MB/min over 10Base-T, so I'm exploring a few 100Base-T switch options, which should allow faster network backup (we've sometimes passed 300 MB/min at work). At that point I'll probably move the VXA drive to my SuperMac J700, which functions primarily as a server for my email lists. One thing I really appreciate about Retrospect is the ease of moving it to another computer, which I've done several times at work. Dan Knight, information systems manager [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baker Book House Company http://www.bakerbooks.com 6030 East Fulton 616-676-9185 x146 Ada, Michigan 49301 fax 616-676-9573 - Macintosh: Love bug resistant, always Y2K ready -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Problems?: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: G4 DVD RAM
Patrick wrote: Well, I bought that option with exactly your thought in mind, and although others may have had better experiences, I have been very disappointed. Backing up large amounts of data whether through Retrospect or the Finder have been EXTREMELY slow, and none of the tips that anyone has offered have worked out. Ditto. Apple's drive is half the speed of SCSI DVD-RAM drives. It can take hours to fill one side. :-( OTOH, we now have a convenient way of archiving design jobs that wouldn't fit on CD-R. Dan Knight, information systems manager [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baker Book House Company http://www.bakerbooks.com 6030 East Fulton 616-676-9185 x146 Ada, Michigan 49301 fax 616-676-9573 - Macintosh: Love bug resistant, always Y2K ready -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Problems?: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Time for backup at home
For that kind of money, why not just buy a refurbished iMac, put NetPresenz on it, and use it as an ftp storage set repository? Just a thought... Interesting suggestion, but issues include: 1. Capacity. I have 17 GB of drive space (far from full). My son has 11 GB. Other Macs have 1-2 GB. The iMac would need a drive upgrade. 2. Redundancy. I'd have to buy two iMacs to have two backup sets. Two tapes is much less expensive. 3. Performance. An iMac would be the third or fourth fastest Mac in the house. No way the wife and kids would put up with the cute little thing sitting there for backup. And if they use it as a computer and crash the drive, there goes the iMac and all my backup. Dan Knight, information systems manager [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baker Book House Company http://www.bakerbooks.com 6030 East Fulton 616-676-9185 x146 Ada, Michigan 49301 fax 616-676-9573 - Macintosh: Love bug resistant, always Y2K ready -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Problems?: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Time for backup at home
Sammy sent me info on a 30 day free VXA trial and special pricing from Ecrix. I've added a new column to my data: DRIVE NS-20 ECHO 30VXA Native 10 GB 15 GB 33 GB Compressed 20 GB 30 GB 66 GB Speed 50MB/min 120MB/min 36MB/min Drive cost $550 $630 $600 Tape cost $60 $50 $80 $/GB* $4.60 $2.33 $1.60 Drive + 2$670 $730 $760 * estimated based on 30% compression I really like the higher capacity media. Based on what I've seen here on the list, I'm going to give the Ecrix VXA drive a try. Anyone else interested in this deal (Mac version $599 incl. Retrospect). http://www.ecrix.com/eval Dan Knight, information systems manager [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baker Book House Company http://www.bakerbooks.com 6030 East Fulton 616-676-9185 x146 Ada, Michigan 49301 fax 616-676-9573 - Macintosh: Love bug resistant, always Y2K ready -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Problems?: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Time for backup at home
Much as I'd love to put a VXA or AIT drive on my home network, I don't want to spend that much money on the drive. I've had enough bad experiences with DAT and DAT-II drives that I've ruled out that option. It seems to be coming down to NS-20 and Onstream ECHO 30. DRIVE NS-20 ECHO 30 Native 10 GB 15 GB Compressed 20 GB 30 GB Speed 50MB/min 120MB/min Drive cost $550 $630 Tape cost $60 $50 $/GB* $4.60 $2.33 * estimated based on 30% compression Both are packaged with Retrospect 4.2. I'll be backing up over 10Base-T, so either should be plenty fast. Based on capacity, speed, and $/GB, the ECHO 30 looks like the winner. I'd like feedback from those who've gone with the Onstream drive. Is it reliable? (Key question before I spend my money.) Thanks! Dan Knight, information systems manager [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baker Book House Company http://www.bakerbooks.com 6030 East Fulton 616-676-9185 x146 Ada, Michigan 49301 fax 616-676-9573 - Macintosh: Love bug resistant, always Y2K ready -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Problems?: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: AIT tape loaders-any real world experiences?
I have a different solution: two AIT drives. 1. If one drive fails for some reason, you can still run backup and do restores. 2. You can always have a blank tape in the second drive just waiting until it's needed. 3. You can double overnight and weekend backup with two tapes. 4. You're not dependent on a loader plus tape drive. 5. It's a lot less expensive to buy a second tape drive than to invest in a loader. 6. If you outgrow two drives, adding a third may still be less costly than investing in a loader. We're backing up 80+ Macs daily, everything from servers (about 25 GB capacity) to design computers (up to 50 GB on those) and anything else (160 MB to 10 GB). Thanks to data compression, our initial backup usually fills two tapes, running into a third the day after that, then slowly filling a five-tape set over a one-month period. Then we start over again. Dan Knight, information systems manager [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baker Book House Company http://www.bakerbooks.com 6030 East Fulton 616-676-9185 x146 Ada, Michigan 49301 fax 616-676-9573 - Saved by grace -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Problems?: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Storage set limits
If there is now way round this except creating a new storage set, this will mean that we have to create new storage sets approx every 8 months as most of the data, 180mb or so stays on the raid at all times. Every 8 months. Count yourself fortunate. We backup an 80-Mac network including one machine with 52 GB of drive space to AIT. We're averaging 33 GB per tape and five tapes per month, then start a new set. I can't even imagine how huge a catalog file Retrospect has to go through to perform a simple backup with a terrabyte of data in the backup set. I suggest you plan on starting new backup sets more often. Dan Knight, information systems manager [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baker Book House Company http://www.bakerbooks.com 6030 East Fulton 616-676-9185 x146 Ada, Michigan 49301 fax 616-676-9573 - Saved by grace -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Problems?: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: my @$$ is saved
Twice this year I've had to wipe a hard drive and start anew -- and both times it was the main partition on my own computer. Norton couldn't help. Disk Warrior threw up its hands in despair. Both times I booted from a partition with a System Folder and a copy of my Retrospect Client, restored, ran Norton to verify and optimize, and was up within 90 minutes. That's 1.7 GB restored, tested, and optimized. Very impressive. I lost maybe 1-2 hours of early morning work and learned my lesson about being careful testing new software. Dan Knight, information systems manager [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baker Book House Company http://www.bakerbooks.com 6030 East Fulton 616-676-9185 x146 Ada, Michigan 49301 fax 616-676-9573 "As for Pentium PCs, well, they're harmless." -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Problems?: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: DVD-RAM as backup media
I recently purchased a Mac G4/400 with the DVD-RAM option, hoping that this would be a simple backup solution. We did the same thing with a G3/300. Apple's IDE DVD-RAM drive has got to be the slowest in existence. And DVD-TuneUp won't help -- Retrospect reformats the DVD using Apple's driver before using it for backup. If you want to backup to DVD-RAM, learn a great deal of patience or find a faster drive. We learned that the hard way. Dan Knight, information systems manager [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baker Book House Company http://www.bakerbooks.com 6030 East Fulton 616-676-9185 x146 Ada, Michigan 49301 fax 616-676-9573 "As for Pentium PCs, well, they're harmless." -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Problems?: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
