Re: Opinions of Onstream Echo drives

2000-11-10 Thread Phil Geller

I've installed 7 of these:  5 SCSI and 2 USB.  Overall I'd say they work
well.  All 7 clients continue to use them.  Most the calls I get is about
understanding Retrospect (but that's another discussion).  The problems I've
seen with the Onstream include:

- The drive doesn't always see a new tape after a tape swap.  The 1.08
firmware was supposed to resolve this, but it hasn't totally. The workaround
is simple.  Turn the drive off and on.  That seems to clear it.

- One USB drive was defective.  It was replaced, and I got Onstream to throw
in a free cleaning cartridge in retribution.

- One tape was defective (out of about 20 I've used so far). It broke.  It
was replaced by Onstream.  Unfortunately it was for the same client who had
the bad USB drive.  He wasn't real happy. But the system is know working for
him (though he still hasn't paid me!!).

- At first their Tech Support knew nothing about Macs.  I think that's
getting better.  I won't give their Tech support high marks.  It took them
about an hour to acknowledge that the USB drive was bad.  They didn't have
equipment at hand to check out my problem.

Bottom line is I continue to use them and recommend them.  I don't see
anything else at this price point which is competitive.  My clients are
unwilling to spend over $1000 for an VXA-1.  And my success with Travan
isn't much better.

Phil Geller
WorkingMacs
voice: 650 493-8689
fax:   650 493-8587

on 11/8/00 6:39 PM, Joel Moore at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 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.
 
 Two out of the three we've purchased so far were plagued by bad media errors
 (-206) in Retrospect.  I tried different tapes and in fact the tapes that
 resulted in the errors worked fine on the third tape drive.
 
 Has anyone else had experience with these drives?  What's your opinion?  We
 have another one on order but I think that will be the last if this happens
 again.
 
 I was thrilled by the idea that I could have 4 or 5 of these working
 together for the price of 1 DAT drive so I'll be disappointed if it turns
 out they are junk.
 
 I know this isn't technically a Retrospect question so feel free to blast me
 but I figured this would be the best place to ask this question.
 
 Joel Moore
 DCI Systems, Inc.
 
 
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Re: Opinions of Onstream Echo drives

2000-11-09 Thread Matt Federoff

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




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RE: Opinions of Onstream Echo drives

2000-11-09 Thread Stephen Jones

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



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Opinions of Onstream Echo drives

2000-11-08 Thread Joel Moore

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.

Two out of the three we've purchased so far were plagued by bad media errors
(-206) in Retrospect.  I tried different tapes and in fact the tapes that
resulted in the errors worked fine on the third tape drive.

Has anyone else had experience with these drives?  What's your opinion?  We
have another one on order but I think that will be the last if this happens
again.

I was thrilled by the idea that I could have 4 or 5 of these working
together for the price of 1 DAT drive so I'll be disappointed if it turns
out they are junk.

I know this isn't technically a Retrospect question so feel free to blast me
but I figured this would be the best place to ask this question.

Joel Moore
DCI Systems, Inc.


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