I see your point, Choppy, but I also see Tim's. Buy two of the cheap tape drives and keep the second one safe. Conserve your backup tapes. ~10 years from now, buy another backup system.
John Hebert --- Chopin Cusachs <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I'm aware of that. Sensitive data I burn on to CD. > However I like > the idea of being able to back up the whole > partition with operating > system and programs on to a single cartridge. In > general, data > goes into a data partition. It is a bit of a pain > to have to reinstall > and reconfigure a bunch of programs which change > very slowly > if at all. > > My budget for tape backup is minimal, and so far the > DAT and > DLT drives are too pricey for my home use. Maybe it > is my > Creole ancestry, but paying more for the backup > device than > I have invested in the computer, I can't do. > > Choppy > > At 03:14 PM 10/30/01 -0600, you wrote: > >One of the biggest rules of tape backups is to > choose a drive that will > >be well-supported in the future. Consider this: you > buy a clearance tape > >drive, and 100 brand-new blank tapes. One month > after you buy your > >drive, the rest of them disappear from the market. > You do perfectly > >great backups for two years, never a problem. Then, > one day your machine > >takes a lightning hit, frying your hard drive(s) as > well as your tape > >drive. You've got two years worth of tapes, and no > drive to put them in. > >You can't go to the store and buy a compatible > drive to put them in, > >since it was based on proprietary standards. Now, > you've gotta search > >ebay and newsgroups for someone with the same > drive. > > > >Be careful buying any proprietary tape drive, > especially an end-of-life > >one. DATs and DLTs are much more open standards, > and you'll be able to > >buy a drive that supports them for many years to > come. > > > ================================================ > BRLUG - The Baton Rouge Linux User Group > Visit http://www.brlug.net for more information. > Send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] to change > your subscription information. > ================================================ __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals. http://personals.yahoo.com ================================================ BRLUG - The Baton Rouge Linux User Group Visit http://www.brlug.net for more information. Send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] to change your subscription information. ================================================
