Which Tape Drive for PC Workstation?

[Ron Reaugh]

Please do test the backup / restore route before you have the crash! No
matter what anyone says there are only two types of hard disk......
Those that have failed
Those that will fail.

There are four kinds of tapes:
Those that never worked.
Those that have already failed.
Those that will fail tomorrow.
Those with no available working drive.

Harddrives are the preferred backup media unless one is in an enterprise
environment with the very best drives and experts to operate the drives and
handle the tapes.

 

[Ron Reaugh]

IIRC, 4mm tape topped out at 20GB/40GB (DDS4?). And
those drives are still $1000.

For that $1000 one can get FOUR 250GB ATA HDs each in a removeable tray.

 

[dg]

Check out these pics of the pelican cases I was writing about, I am pretty
happy with how they are working out. I feel like the drives are as safe as
I could possibly hope, awesome cases. The foam is called "pick and pluck"
which means it is scored into little cubes and you can pluck out the exact
shape of the drive enclosure. This case is the 1400 model.

http://home.pacbell.net/dankgus/BACKUP/EXTERIOR.JPG
http://home.pacbell.net/dankgus/BACKUP/INTERIOR.JPG
http://home.pacbell.net/dankgus/BACKUP/INTERIOR2.JPG
http://home.pacbell.net/dankgus/BACKUP/BAY.JPG

 

[chrisv]

IIRC, 4mm tape topped out at 20GB/40GB (DDS4?). And
those drives are still $1000.

For that $1000 one can get FOUR 250GB ATA HDs each in a removeable tray.

Ever consider fixing your newsreader so that it doesn't mangle quotes,
Rod^Hn? I mean, why wouldn't you? Do you think mangled quotes are a
good thing?

 

[Mr. Grinch]

Howdy. I am looking for some recommendations on a tape drive for a
stand-alone PC workstation running WindowsXP Pro. I need a way of
backing up an entire HD (say 40-65GB) to a single tape. That way it can
be set to auto-run at 5:30PM and should be done by thee next day.

It seems like all the newer tape drives I see are for server or network
storage devices and are very spendy. There are also an amazing array of
different storage technologies. Any suggestions for a desktop?

If you're not sure how much you want to spend for your backup solution, try
and put a price on what it would cost you if the data were lost. If it's
no big loss and you could start from scratch and the downtime wouldn't mean
much, then by all means go for the cheapest solution. If you need to make
the data portable, so that you can give it to someone else for restore,
that might have some impact on your choice as well.

You will find several responses here suggesting using additional ATA
drives, either external or in removable drive bays. Given how ATA storage
prices are dropping, I'd definately consider these options. Compared to
many tape solutions, ATA HDs are often cheaper per MB, and faster for
backups and restores.

For tape backups in the size you suggest, most of the drives do tend to be
expenisve. But be certain to include the cost of the tapes you will need.
The total cost of tapes is often more than the drive itself. Also remember
that the size quoted on many tape drives is the amount of storage with a
certain amount of compression assumed. The actual amount of storage is
usually half or even less. A Sony ATI-500 would get you 50GB of
uncompressed storage, which is in your ballpark. A DLT 40/80 (40GB
uncompressed) might be too small for you, next up are Super DLT at 110/220,
perhaps overkill for you. DAT drives are another consideration.

I'm partial to DLT simply because I've used them alot, found them reliable
and easy to maintain, and found cheap sources for tapes and the older
drives. I'm using a Compaq 20/40 right now. But I've also got a Maxtor
Maxline 300GB ATA drive and I use that much more regulary for backups,
because it's fast and easy to use. I use Robocopy (free reskit tool) and
scripts to backup to it. With the amount of data you have, you could have
several days worth of backups on a drive like this, perhaps even more days
if the data can be compressed, either with a utility or using NTFS
disk/file compression.

 

[Ken Krone]

I had originally thought of swapable SATA drive enclosures but this
should work pretty well. I cannot find a website address for Mace Group
when I have checked on Google. Do you know the address?

Thanke
Ken K

 

[Ken Krone]

Did you order the case with anti-static foam?

Thanks
Ken K

 

[Ken K]

Do you have any thoughts about Vantec versus Kingwin?

Thanks
Ken K

P.S. I would be grateful if you would check out my post on a similar
topic today, 5/31, at 11:47AM.

 

[Ken Krone]

Do you have any thoughts about Vantec versus Kingwin?

Thanks
Ken K

P.S. I would be grateful if you would check out my post on a similar
topic today, 5/31, at 11:47AM.

 

[Obadiah]

If you're not sure how much you want to spend for your backup solution, try
and put a price on what it would cost you if the data were lost. If it's
no big loss and you could start from scratch and the downtime wouldn't mean
much, then by all means go for the cheapest solution. If you need to make
the data portable, so that you can give it to someone else for restore,
that might have some impact on your choice as well.

You will find several responses here suggesting using additional ATA
drives, either external or in removable drive bays. Given how ATA storage
prices are dropping, I'd definately consider these options. Compared to
many tape solutions, ATA HDs are often cheaper per MB, and faster for
backups and restores.

For tape backups in the size you suggest, most of the drives do tend to be
expenisve. But be certain to include the cost of the tapes you will need.
The total cost of tapes is often more than the drive itself. Also remember
that the size quoted on many tape drives is the amount of storage with a
certain amount of compression assumed. The actual amount of storage is
usually half or even less. A Sony ATI-500 would get you 50GB of
uncompressed storage, which is in your ballpark. A DLT 40/80 (40GB
uncompressed) might be too small for you, next up are Super DLT at 110/220,
perhaps overkill for you. DAT drives are another consideration.

I'm partial to DLT simply because I've used them alot, found them reliable
and easy to maintain, and found cheap sources for tapes and the older
drives. I'm using a Compaq 20/40 right now. But I've also got a Maxtor
Maxline 300GB ATA drive and I use that much more regulary for backups,
because it's fast and easy to use. I use Robocopy (free reskit tool) and
scripts to backup to it. With the amount of data you have, you could have
several days worth of backups on a drive like this, perhaps even more days
if the data can be compressed, either with a utility or using NTFS
disk/file compression.

Thanks for your kind follow up. Do you know a good vendor of DLT equipment?

 

[Mr. Grinch]

:
Thanks for your kind follow up. Do you know a good vendor of DLT
equipment?

Where I work, we've always bought new DLTs from Compaq / HP, or whatever
vendor would give us the best price on them. Some vendors insist on a 14 to
20% price over cost, others are happy with 4% or less. For used, try ebay,
ubid, etc, or local computer services retailers that might have old drives to
sell after upgrading customers to bigger drives.

 

[Toshi1873]

I had originally thought of swapable SATA drive enclosures but this
should work pretty well. I cannot find a website address for Mace Group
when I have checked on Google. Do you know the address?

You can also try: www.macally.com
- not sure if it's also the Mace Group, but seems to be
the same stuff. The CA-405U2 enclosure is getting
harder to find.

I may look at removable bays again, but a good quality
bay adds about the same cost as the external USB
enclosure. If they made a 5400rpm SATA drive (cooler
temp) that I could stick in a removable SATA bay, I'd be
very happy. Putting a hot-running 7200rpm SATA in one
of those leaves me less comfortable (since my backup
workstation is not located in a 60F climate-controlled
server room).

USB/firewire enclosures have one (minor) advantage over
the removable bays. Ease-of-use after a disaster (just
about any PC made has the hardware needed to retrieve
files off the device).