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Tape drive backup
- Thread starter UNIX72
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ObviousTroll
Programmer
As I see it, people have pretty much abandoned tape backup in lieu of removeable hard drives.
You did not say what you're backing up from. Is it an Apple server or some other? If Apple and you don't want to remove the tapes off location, Apple offers rather large and expandable multi hard drive storage solutions in it's Xserve line.
If you're backing up from something else, all teh big names like HP and IBM offer tape drives that certainly work well althoought they're not cheap. Yu just have to make sure that you have the right connections available. many are scsi.
An alternative is something like the LaCie 4 bay removable raid solutions that hold up to 2TB and are very reasonable. They connect via ethernet, are Linux based and connect to just about any platform.
Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4 & G5
If you're backing up from something else, all teh big names like HP and IBM offer tape drives that certainly work well althoought they're not cheap. Yu just have to make sure that you have the right connections available. many are scsi.
An alternative is something like the LaCie 4 bay removable raid solutions that hold up to 2TB and are very reasonable. They connect via ethernet, are Linux based and connect to just about any platform.
Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4 & G5
For a decent Macintosh Tape Backup solution I have used the Exabyte VXA-2 Packet Loader 1x10. This unit has a 1U footprint, so it takes up very little rack space and most importantly it connects via firewire to our xServe. This simple/built-in connection allows you to avoid installing and configuring a SCSI card. We are able to store up to 2 TB of data from our xRAID.
Backing up to tape makes sense when you store your data off site.
Backing up to tape makes sense when you store your data off site.
I've used tape for years, from OS/2 to Windows (but never on a Mac), and I've given up on them. The tapes never seem to be readable when you really need them to be. 
So I now have about a half-dozen of the USB-powered hard drives to do backups. While I don't have as much data as you, you could easily move up to the larger external USB/Firewire drive enclosures, some of which do RAID internally.
Another advantage of hard drives for backups: You spend less time waiting for the tape to fast-forward to your data when doing a recovery.
BTW, TimeMachine is awesome. Wish I didn't have to do the property-file hack to get it to recognize network storage, though.
Chip H.
____________________________________________________________________
If you want to get the best response to a question, please read FAQ222-2244 first
So I now have about a half-dozen of the USB-powered hard drives to do backups. While I don't have as much data as you, you could easily move up to the larger external USB/Firewire drive enclosures, some of which do RAID internally.
Another advantage of hard drives for backups: You spend less time waiting for the tape to fast-forward to your data when doing a recovery.
BTW, TimeMachine is awesome. Wish I didn't have to do the property-file hack to get it to recognize network storage, though.
Chip H.
____________________________________________________________________
If you want to get the best response to a question, please read FAQ222-2244 first
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