There are a few of quick things I would add about the VXA drives, having placed them with several clients in a number of different configurations with great success overall. (One example that has worked very nicely uses 2 VXA drives on a Beige G3 to back up PCs to one drive and Macs to the other drive.) I have used both the LVD and SCSI-2 versions of the drives, singly as well as in pairs. I strongly recommend using an Adaptec 2930U card and not the 2906; devices attached through a 2906 can't be seen without the Adaptec extension being loaded first, while the 2930U requires no extension to be operable, which is much preferred in my book. The price is only slightly higher than the 2906. Its exact name is "Power Domain 2930U Ultra Narrow SCSI PCI" card, referred to on bottom of page found at... http://www.ecrix.com/products/VXA-1-apple-desc.html 100Base-T ethernet makes a huge difference. You will never ever see what these drives really do at 10. I've gotten rates of 180 gigs a minute over switched 100 networks. With 10Base-T you get a paltry fraction of the that. When backing up a local machine 200GB a minute is the norm. At the time of this writing, the URL below still worked to bring you to the page at the Ecrix site which enables you to take advantage of a terrific eval offer from them where the drive is some $500 (US) off. Your client will love you for it if its still available and they don't already know about the deal. http://www.vxa.com/eval/ For your convenience, I am including below the exact shopping list I provide a client who is getting the SCSI-2 version of the drive. (Of course they have to already have or get Retrospect too.) I hope some of this is helpful to you. Val Junker ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) PN = 115.00108... VXA External Drive Kit, Translucent = "SCSI-2 tape drive in external enclosure with power supply and cooling fan, power cord, SCSI terminator, Documentation & Tools CD-Rom, QuickStart Guide, V17 VXAtape (33 GB), VXA Cleaning Tape. Available in choice of black, white, red, or translucent enclosure." [This next URL is just for you to see the whole undiscounted price list] http://www.vxa.com/products/VXA-price.html 2) Buy extra tapes (the drive comes with 1 "V17" tape)... Get THREE more "V17" tapes, and also buy TWO "V10" tapes for some special purpose archiving (shorter tapes) 3) Buy a "SCSI-2 50 pin" cable to connect drive to Mac, as referred to on bottom of page found at... http://www.vxa.com/products/VXA-kit.html Not available from them (Ecrix), but needed: 4) Adaptec "Power Domain 2930U Ultra Narrow SCSI PCI" card Referred to on bottom of page found at... http://www.ecrix.com/products/VXA-1-apple-desc.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- ---------------------------------------------------------- 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.
