Re: Opinions of Onstream Echo drives
We've been backing up to Onstream's Echo drives (DI30: IDE, 15GB) with mixed results. I like these drives (price is nice, IDE interface) but lately I've been wondering about the quality. We use them here (scsi SC-50 drives) with good results (Macintosh Retro version 4.3). I have seen oddities where a particular cartridge works in one drive but not another, but overall reliability has been good, and the price is awesome. I used DAT for years (including autoloaders!), and I will never go back to it. What a nightmare that proved to be. Peace, Matt Matt Federoff Director of Technology Apple Distinguished Educator Vail School District - Vail, AZ o:520/762-2174 m:591-1072 -- -- 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: Opinions of Onstream Echo drives
Almost everyone I know hates DAT drives; regardless of the OS or backup software. I will only use a technology which has built-in hardware ECC (error correction) for my backups. As I understand it, this is lacking from the Onstream drive. My data is backed up on 8mm (not the old 5 or 7GB version). Alot of people who have suffered from media problems using 8mm are talking about the older MP based tapes. In today's world, 8mm uses AME tapes (advanced metal). The difference is night and day (500 passes with an old video grade tape vs 30,000 passes of today's AME based tape). DLT drives still use MP media. That is one of the big reasons they have not kept pace with the other technologies like AIT or M2. DLTs will not be able to use AME media because AME is not built for bi-directional usage (DLTs write/read bi-directionally). I doubt we'll see an AIT drive priced like an Onstream in the very near future but maybe one day... In the meantime, I'll pay a little more for better peace of mind. This is just my two cents; everyone has a pair of pennies! :) Steve -- -- 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.
Compaq SCSI Adapters and Compaq Tape Devices
Just FYI. Just a couple notes for the list (and Dantz). 1. Attaching a Compaq DLT tape library to a Compaq ProLiant 6500 server's built-in SCSI adapter doesn't work with BackupExec. I haven't tried it with Retrospect, but would expect similar results. BackupExec couldn't talk reliably talk to the library. 2. Attaching a Compaq AIT tape library (SSL-2020) to the built-in SCSI adapter of a Compaq DL380 server doesn't work, either. Retrospect cannot talk reliably to the library. It almost works. Backups may occur, but the Devices window simply behaves oddly, and Retrospect has trouble erasing tapes, or find tapes to erase or use. Solutions in both cases was to install an Adaptec 2940UW SCSI adapter and connect the library to the Adaptec. Dantz may wish to stick this information in some tech DB or something. I'd probably recommend that admins with Compaq servers be wary of the built-in SCSI adapters of Compaq servers, or at least test them thoroughly before relying on them... Brad. -- -- 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.
DAT Loader failures: secret revealed!
Here's why most DATs fail in autoloaders: Most people buy DAT loaders to compensate for the low capacity per tape. The idea is to have the tapes changed automatically in the night or over a weekend. None of us are thrilled with the idea of having to come into the office on our personal time to play tape monkey, so this thinking is very justified. What most people do not know is the 4mm mechanism has the lowest head rating of 4mm, DLT and 8mm (AIT/M2) technologies (1/5th the head life of AIT). Now that you have a DAT changer automatically handling tape swaps, you're making the head unit work longer than it was originally designed to handle. No DAT manufacturer has a special "library" version of their DAT drive with longer head ratings. Instead of people using their drives for a couple hours per night, they are now using them up to 5-10x longer. End result? You burn through the heads 'quicker'. Most guys I know with DAT loaders burn the heads up within a year (your mileage will vary). This is like a volkswagon trying to haul a loaded 18 wheeler rig. In time, you're going to burn-up the engine or the tranny. AIT has 5x the head life of a DAT. Using the same formula, one would theoretically get five years of backup before the heads went south for the winter. Yet, AIT certainly doesn't have 5x the price tag. A fifteen tape library with an AIT-1 drive costs less than $4,250.00 with Retrospect included. That's 525GB uncompressed with the higher head rating and self-cleaning feature. Here's another newsflash. AIT-3 is due out next year. This will drive down the price of AIT-1 even further. Because of this, DDS-5 looks like it may not be released after all. In other words, eventually, new DDS units will go the way of the dino. The above is based on over ten years of personal experience with storage devices. I invite all comments via e-mail. Steve -- -- 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: DAT Loader failures: secret revealed!
This is interesting, but I don't think I've ever had a DAT failure due to bad heads. Most of the autoloaders we have have the problem with the autoloader itself. Pull the DAT drive out of the autoloader and it works fine most of the time. We did have one drive go bad, but it was related to the "inject" mechanism mis-aligning the tape as it fed it in. Thanks for the info. Good information. Here's why most DATs fail in autoloaders: Most people buy DAT loaders to compensate for the low capacity per tape. The idea is to have the tapes changed automatically in the night or over a weekend. None of us are thrilled with the idea of having to come into the office on our personal time to play tape monkey, so this thinking is very justified. What most people do not know is the 4mm mechanism has the lowest head rating of 4mm, DLT and 8mm (AIT/M2) technologies (1/5th the head life of AIT). Now that you have a DAT changer automatically handling tape swaps, you're making the head unit work longer than it was originally designed to handle. No DAT manufacturer has a special "library" version of their DAT drive with longer head ratings. -- -- 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.
SCSI Voodoo strikes...
Hi all, We have just set up a system consisting of a Sony DDS-4 tape drive attached to 7300 with an AdvanSys UltraWide SCSI card in order to back up the Macs in our lab. It has been working perfectly for the last week, then suddenly last night Retrospect gave us a 102 error (trouble communicating) after copying 12 out 13 files on the first volume in the script. Retrospect can still see the drive (as can SCSIProbe etc) and recognise which tape is in it but gives a 102 error whenever we try to read or write to it... We have the list of things to try (ie cables, terminators, etc) but this will take us a while as we don't have easy access to any other cables or terminators. What I was actually interested in is why this problem might have just happened in the middle of a backup (which was in the middle of the night)? Is this normal for SCSI to just die like this? I would have thought it would be more likely to occur after a shutdown or something else changing? Any experiences, observations or suggestions welcome... Adrian Smith -- -- 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.
Can't Find cd-r drive?
Hello, I just installed Retrospect and cannot get it to find my cd-r drive for backup? The error says 'no disk drive' found? Thank you if you can help me out on this one! Dave Campano [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- -- 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.
