🚀 go-pugleaf

alex@mercer.demon.co.uk (Alex Chapman) writes:

>I've just had the scare of my life recovering a harddisk full of
>information after a hard crash.  It has finally persuaded me to
>do something which I have been planning to do for months...

>_get myself a tape backup device_

>Now, I've heard various horror stories about using certain devices/
>applications with OS/2 WARP.  Ideally I want a tape drive that will
>plug into a parallel port, and backup OS/2 or Windows systems
>unattended.  Can anyone recommend something, before I lose the impetus
>to do something about it ;)  Thanks for any feedback,

I would seriously recommend going for SCSI, rather than a parallel
solution.  The main reason?  Your tape drive will be useable on any
other machine that supports SCSI in the future as well!

I use a Sankyo CP150 SCSI QIC150 drive in my PC.  I use GNU tar to
backup my HPFS and FAT partitions.  I also use GNU tar for Unix to
back up my Unix partitions.  A very flexible solution, although not
too hot on the ease-of-use front, though I suppose the invocation:

tape erase
tape rewind
tar cv2 d:\*.*

shouldn't be beyond too many people...  the software's free too!

The OS/2 port of GNU tar supports extended attributes properly too.
I tell you, having decent tape backup has saved my neck countless
times, and also makes repartitioning your hard disk easy.  I wanted to
transfer 50Mb from a Linux partition to an OS/2 partition.  Backing
up, repartitioning, reformatting and restoring both operating systems
took an hour.

Tim.

In <3k8t2p$egr@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk>, tjrc1@mole.bio.cam.ac.uk (Tim Cutts) writes:
>I would seriously recommend going for SCSI, rather than a parallel
>solution.  The main reason?  Your tape drive will be useable on any
>other machine that supports SCSI in the future as well!

The orginal poster didn't say what kind of machine he had, but on the basis
of his stated desire for parallel port backup it's likely he's got a notebook
computer.

The throughput of parallel port-based tape drives leaves something to be
desired, but it's still a *lot* fast than backing up to a stack of floppies.

FYI, On my notebook I'm using BackMaster /w a Conner PP tape drive.  It works
very well.

+-----------------------------------+
| Steve Snyder:                     |
| CIS      --> 76447,3264           |
| BIX      --> ssnyder              |
| Internet --> ssnyder@icon-stl.net |
+-----------------------------------+

In article <795335397snx@mercer.demon.co.uk>
           alex@mercer.demon.co.uk "Alex Chapman" writes:

> _get myself a tape backup device_
> 
> Now, I've heard various horror stories about using certain devices/
> applications with OS/2 WARP.  Ideally I want a tape drive that will
> plug into a parallel port, and backup OS/2 or Windows systems
> unattended.  Can anyone recommend something, before I lose the impetus
> to do something about it ;)  Thanks for any feedback,

I already had a CMS Jumbo internal pre-OS/2 and needed backup s/w to cope
with OS/2 DOS & Windows. On a recommendation from Richard I bought
Backmaster (about 60GBP via CCT Europe 01905-381011, no connections) and,
although I don't do unattended backups, it seems fine. Current version is
1.1a, needs 8Mb, supports a wide range of internal & external streamers
(including the newly-emerging "standards"), and also has unattended backup.
Apparently MSR (the authors of Backmaster) recommend Iomega drives with
their s/w, although I have had no probs so far (only 4 weeks).

I believe Backmaster is the cheapest but it seems perfectly adequate. I 
think Richard can vouch better than I for its restore capabilities.

Hope this helps.
-- 
Bernard Rushton                     | "Any sufficiently advanced technology
Billericay, Essex, UK               |  is indistinguishable from magic".
e-mail: bernard@foobar.demon.co.uk  |                   - Arthur C. Clarke
------------------------------------+---------------------------------------

In article <3k8t2p$egr@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk>,
    tjrc1@mole.bio.cam.ac.uk (Tim Cutts) wrote ...

> I use a Sankyo CP150 SCSI QIC150 drive in my PC.  I use GNU tar to
> backup my HPFS and FAT partitions.  I also use GNU tar for Unix to
> back up my Unix partitions.  A very flexible solution, although not
> too hot on the ease-of-use front, though I suppose the invocation:
> 
> tape erase
> tape rewind
> tar cv2 d:\*.*

Be careful, that last tar command will not back up the hidden files in
the root directory of d:.  If you want to back up all of drive D: and
preserve all of the file attributes, it's best to use the command:

    tar --all-files --all-times cv2 d:/

(assuming that "2" is your tape device number).

Niel
-- 
Dr C Niel Kempson
Snowy Owl Systems Limited
E-mail: kempson@snowyowl.com (Internet)

In article <3k8t2p$egr@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk>
           tjrc1@mole.bio.cam.ac.uk "Tim Cutts" writes:

>The OS/2 port of GNU tar supports extended attributes properly too.

Does that have any compatibility implications if you read the tapes with other tars ?

-- 
John Beardmore     wookie@wookie.demon.co.uk
                   wookie@cix.compulink.co.uk

Remember children:  'M' is for Monoculture, Monopoly and for Microsoft.

In <3k8t2p$egr@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk>, tjrc1@mole.bio.cam.ac.uk (Tim Cutts) writes:
>alex@mercer.demon.co.uk (Alex Chapman) writes:
>
>
>I would seriously recommend going for SCSI, rather than a parallel
>solution.  The main reason?  Your tape drive will be useable on any
>other machine that supports SCSI in the future as well!
>
>I use a Sankyo CP150 SCSI QIC150 drive in my PC.  I use GNU tar to
>backup my HPFS and FAT partitions.  I also use GNU tar for Unix to
>back up my Unix partitions.  A very flexible solution, although not
>too hot on the ease-of-use front, though I suppose the invocation:
>
   I agree with you completely.  Scsi is the ONLY way to go.  I have a CMS Jumbo
250 (I am looking to replace it).  What is the size of your tape drive?  (also, do
you need specific drivers for the drive, or do the drivers for your scsi card
handle everything?)  I am looking for a drive that handles 150-300 meg 
uncompressed.   How much was your drive?  (or can you recommend one for
me.  It doesn't need to be fast.)

Algis Baliunas
abaliun@rci.ripco.com

In article <D5nGKw.n7.0.-s@rci.ripco.com>, abaliun@ripco.com says...


>   I agree with you completely.  Scsi is the ONLY way to go.  I have a 
CMS Jumbo
>250 (I am looking to replace it).  What is the size of your tape drive?  
(also, 
>do
>you need specific drivers for the drive, or do the drivers for your scsi 
card
>handle everything?)  I am looking for a drive that handles 150-300 meg 
>uncompressed.   How much was your drive?  (or can you recommend one for
>me.  It doesn't need to be fast.)
>

I just got the Conner TapeStor 4000 SCSI drive.  The drive costs alittle
over $500 and it handles 4Gigabytes (compressed).  It is not on my OS/2 
box however, and I don't know if it is supported by any software for 
OS/2.  THe drive does about 50 MByte / minute, which is a hell of alot
faster than my old Irwin accutrak 250 running off the floppy controller.

andrew

In article <D5nGKw.n7.0.-s@rci.ripco.com> abaliun@ripco.com writes:
>    I agree with you completely.  Scsi is the ONLY way to go.  I have a CMS Jumbo
> 250 (I am looking to replace it).  What is the size of your tape drive?  (also, do
> you need specific drivers for the drive, or do the drivers for your scsi card
> handle everything?)  I am looking for a drive that handles 150-300 meg 
> uncompressed.   How much was your drive?  (or can you recommend one for
> me.  It doesn't need to be fast.)

The Sankyo that Tim mentioned is either 150 or 250 Mb depending upon whether
you use DC6150 or DC6250 tape cartridges.  No additional drivers should be
needed (at least not with an Adaptec).  You can quite often find second hand
SCSI tape drives of the size you are looking for that have been taken from
Sun workstations.

Rob
-- 
____
\  /   Even in civilized mankind faint traces of monogamous 
 \/    instinct can be perceived           Bertrand Russell

kempson@snowyowl.com (Niel Kempson) writes:

>In article <3k8t2p$egr@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk>,
>    tjrc1@mole.bio.cam.ac.uk (Tim Cutts) wrote ...

>> I use a Sankyo CP150 SCSI QIC150 drive in my PC.  I use GNU tar to
>> backup my HPFS and FAT partitions.  I also use GNU tar for Unix to
>> back up my Unix partitions.  A very flexible solution, although not
>> too hot on the ease-of-use front, though I suppose the invocation:
>> 
>> tape erase
>> tape rewind
>> tar cv2 d:\*.*

>Be careful, that last tar command will not back up the hidden files in
>the root directory of d:.  If you want to back up all of drive D: and
>preserve all of the file attributes, it's best to use the command:

>    tar --all-files --all-times cv2 d:/

>(assuming that "2" is your tape device number).

Thanks... I didn't know that.  Fortunately I haven't yet needed to
restore such sensitive files!

Tim.

wookie@wookie.demon.co.uk (John Beardmore) writes:

>In article <3k8t2p$egr@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk>
>           tjrc1@mole.bio.cam.ac.uk "Tim Cutts" writes:

>>The OS/2 port of GNU tar supports extended attributes properly too.

>Does that have any compatibility implications if you read the tapes with other tars ?

Yes.  If I do a 'tar t' under Linux on a tape created by tar for OS/2,
each file appears twice (if the OS/2 tape is of an HPFS partition,
that is - if it's of a FAT partition you're OK since the EAs are all
in ea data.sf or whatever it's called).  I haven't tried restoring
this on a Linux partition to see what happens.  If it's sensible it
will store the EAs first so you get the file rather than its EAs.

Tim.

abaliun@ripco.com writes:

>In <3k8t2p$egr@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk>, tjrc1@mole.bio.cam.ac.uk (Tim Cutts) writes:
>>alex@mercer.demon.co.uk (Alex Chapman) writes:
>>
>>
>>I would seriously recommend going for SCSI, rather than a parallel
>>solution.  The main reason?  Your tape drive will be useable on any
>>other machine that supports SCSI in the future as well!
>>
>>I use a Sankyo CP150 SCSI QIC150 drive in my PC.  I use GNU tar to
>>backup my HPFS and FAT partitions.  I also use GNU tar for Unix to
>>back up my Unix partitions.  A very flexible solution, although not
>>too hot on the ease-of-use front, though I suppose the invocation:
>>
>   I agree with you completely.  Scsi is the ONLY way to go.  I have a CMS Jumbo
>250 (I am looking to replace it).  What is the size of your tape drive?  (also, do
>you need specific drivers for the drive, or do the drivers for your scsi card
>handle everything?)  I am looking for a drive that handles 150-300 meg 
>uncompressed.   How much was your drive?  (or can you recommend one for
>me.  It doesn't need to be fast.)

I use DC6250 tapes (250Mb uncompressed).  Officially the drive is a
150Mb drive, so I don't know what happens if you try to go over that,
but since all my partitions are <150Mb that doesn't matter.  I bought
the drive second-hand, so I'm afraid I don't know how much they are
new.  Not much, since the SCSI world mostly uses the higher capacity
Exabyte and DAT tapes these days.

Tim.

In <3kg5bb$8f7@netnews.upenn.edu>, awertkin@mail.med.upenn.edu (Andrew M. Wertkin) writes:
>I just got the Conner TapeStor 4000 SCSI drive.  The drive costs alittle
>over $500 and it handles 4Gigabytes (compressed).  It is not on my OS/2
>box however, and I don't know if it is supported by any software for
>OS/2.  THe drive does about 50 MByte / minute, which is a hell of alot
>faster than my old Irwin accutrak 250 running off the floppy controller.


The drive is fully support by Back Again/2 Professional under OS/2.
Beware about the 'claimed' speeds - the 54MB/min speed is assuming
2:1 data compression on a machine that can do data compression
that fast.  Without compression, the drive can be expected to do between
24 and 29 meg/min.

Cheers,
Brad