[wellylug] Tape Backup Units

[JP]

 --- Jamie Dobbs <jamie.dobbs at orcon.net.nz> wrote: >
I'm thinking about putting some kind of tape backup
> unit into my PC to
> allow mne to backup both Windows and Linux
> partitions/data.
> Can anyone recommend a WELL PRICED tape backup unit
> that runs off the IDE
> interface (I have one IDE connection free).
> I was kind of thinking that one of the Travan based
> units might be best as
>  DAT and DCC seem quite expensive (both drives and
> media), but I'm willing
> to be corrected.
> 
I've read Colin K's replies and your replies to the
replies.

You can pick up a 120Gb ide hard drive for about $200
from ascent.co.nz.  If you aren't worried about making
multiple backups (i.e. you are happy with one at a
time) and you aren't doing the off-site thing (it
sounds like you aren't) this could do the trick.  If
you .tar.gz, you might get two or more backups on such
a drive, depending on the data.  If you get a
removable drive, you can obviously move it off site,
but it will cost more.

With a hard drive and Linux, you'll get read/write
support for ext2/ext3/reiserfs/fat and read support
for ntfs, so backup up the Windows and Linux files
should be easy.  I don't know about restoring ntfs,
but I think write support for that filesystem is
limited even in the 2.6 kernel (you can always use dd,
but it has some quite serious limitations if you
aren't restoring a whole partition).

For backups of stuff you want to keep permanently,
CD-R or DVD-R is probably more the thing.  I back up
my digital photos this way, making two identical CD-Rs
for each batch.  I check the CDs every now and then,
and if one doesn't read, I make another backup (CD-Rs
don't have the longevity of properly pressed CDs;
CD-RWs are reportedly even worse).  Once backed up, I
remove photos from the hard drive to free up space.

I used Travan tapes in my last job.  They were slow,
needed frequent replacement and had a max capacity (at
that time) of about 8GB uncompressed.  Drove me nuts,
but was probably the right solution when you had to
have 5 daily backups, 2 weekly backups and 1 monthly
backup available at all times.  Having 8 hard drives
lying around probably isn't the best thing!





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