Re: [expert] ORB Drive
On Wed, 10 Nov 1999, you wrote: > U > > How about an IDE HDD in a drawer? I use two of them and leapfrog and > backup is down to single user for maintenance and the copy command. The > backup (20 Gb worth) takes less time than my UPS is able to stay up. > I understand what you're saying, but the idea of having three or four "backup" hard drives is a bit much for me... Plus, I don't have any 5.25" drive bays open. :-) I wish I did > I have a Python program that takes the big disk and transfers all its > files to CD-R on an off-line machine once a week. I'm not sure I could > rebuild a bootable without reinstalling, but I know I can restore all > the data files. No fancy compression schemes or anything like that. It > can take a 2 G file (or even larger if such were supported) and spread > it across several CD-Rs. I leave space on some of them, and may not > make the most efficient use of CD-R space, but at $.90 each, it is more > important to save labor and data than it is to maximize use of space on > CD-Rs. The proggie also prints out a catalog of what is on each disk > and a set of labels on plain old Avery 5160s. Not fancy but it works. > I really like THAT idea... :-) I'm seriously considering getting a "Smart & Friendly" SCSI CDRW drive. Use it instead of my SCSI CD drive for both reading and writing and I'll be emailing you asking for a copy of that util! :-) John
RE: [expert] ORB Drive
On Wed, 10 Nov 1999, you wrote: > Tapes are good if you know what they are doing. Must keep the heads > clean. Cannot expect to take a tape made in one and read it in another > (most of the time works but sometimes it doesnt). You have to have a > schedule of testing the tapes. Something like once a week restore a > random file and once a month restore a whole partition (if you have the > space). At least this way the surprises are minimized. > Yep that oughta do it. :-) I've heard horror stories about people who keep reusing the same tapes over and over and wonder why they can't restore off a tape that's 5 years old and has innumerable "writes" to it. :-) John
Re: [expert] ORB Drive
Fred Frigerio wrote: > Tapes are good if you know what they are doing. Must keep the heads > clean. Cannot expect to take a tape made in one and read it in another > (most of the time works but sometimes it doesnt). You have to have a > schedule of testing the tapes. Something like once a week restore a > random file and once a month restore a whole partition (if you have the > space). At least this way the surprises are minimized. Yeppers, I wasn't the sysadmin at the time, but some schedule of testing was done. The tape drive was what crashed the machine, and it did so with the spectacular results one would expect from a 1000W switching UPS (spitting hot metal which KOed the disk). No other tape drives would read it, and I believe a data recovery service made $1000 evaluating 5 tapes (at $200 per tape) to report that nothing was recoverable. The WorkGroupServer Motherboard and case and floppy were reused, but not as a WGS. The HDD, the tape drive, the power supply and the cabling had to be trashed. And you are exactly right, no other tape drive would read the tapes. Civileme > > > > -Original Message- > > From: Civileme [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > > Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 1999 1:47 PM > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subject: Re: [expert] ORB Drive > > > > > > John Aldrich wrote: > > > > > On Wed, 10 Nov 1999, you wrote: > > > > John, > > > > > > > > OnStream only produce tape drives - I hate tape drives . . > > > > > > > Understood.. but at this point, it would appear that it's > > > the only "multi-gig" removeable media drive available for > > > Linux users. > > > John > > > > U > > > > How about an IDE HDD in a drawer? I use two of them and leapfrog and > > backup is down to single user for maintenance and the copy > > command. The > > backup (20 Gb worth) takes less time than my UPS is able to stay up. > > > > That's multi-gig and (kinda) removable. After a MAC > > WorkGroup Server 80 > > crashed in 1996 here and ALL of its QIC cartridges proved > > unrecoverable > > AND everyone lost 6 years work, people in this location are > > allergic to > > the mention of the word "tape". > > > > I have a Python program that takes the big disk and transfers all its > > files to CD-R on an off-line machine once a week. I'm not > > sure I could > > rebuild a bootable without reinstalling, but I know I can restore all > > the data files. No fancy compression schemes or anything > > like that. It > > can take a 2 G file (or even larger if such were supported) and spread > > it across several CD-Rs. I leave space on some of them, and may not > > make the most efficient use of CD-R space, but at $.90 each, > > it is more > > important to save labor and data than it is to maximize use > > of space on > > CD-Rs. The proggie also prints out a catalog of what is on each disk > > and a set of labels on plain old Avery 5160s. Not fancy but it works. > > > > But it is not "removable media" because it is the entire HDD that is > > removed, not just the media. Still 20 G on a HDD is a lot easier to > > handle than 10 JAZ cartridges which incidentally cost three times the > > price of the 20G HDD. And, of course, it is fun to try to > > make JAZ and > > its 2G really work well with Linux. > > > > Hope this is useful to someone else. > > > > Civileme > > > >
RE: [expert] ORB Drive
Tapes are good if you know what they are doing. Must keep the heads clean. Cannot expect to take a tape made in one and read it in another (most of the time works but sometimes it doesnt). You have to have a schedule of testing the tapes. Something like once a week restore a random file and once a month restore a whole partition (if you have the space). At least this way the surprises are minimized. > -Original Message- > From: Civileme [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 1999 1:47 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [expert] ORB Drive > > > John Aldrich wrote: > > > On Wed, 10 Nov 1999, you wrote: > > > John, > > > > > > OnStream only produce tape drives - I hate tape drives . . > > > > > Understood.. but at this point, it would appear that it's > > the only "multi-gig" removeable media drive available for > > Linux users. > > John > > U > > How about an IDE HDD in a drawer? I use two of them and leapfrog and > backup is down to single user for maintenance and the copy > command. The > backup (20 Gb worth) takes less time than my UPS is able to stay up. > > That's multi-gig and (kinda) removable. After a MAC > WorkGroup Server 80 > crashed in 1996 here and ALL of its QIC cartridges proved > unrecoverable > AND everyone lost 6 years work, people in this location are > allergic to > the mention of the word "tape". > > I have a Python program that takes the big disk and transfers all its > files to CD-R on an off-line machine once a week. I'm not > sure I could > rebuild a bootable without reinstalling, but I know I can restore all > the data files. No fancy compression schemes or anything > like that. It > can take a 2 G file (or even larger if such were supported) and spread > it across several CD-Rs. I leave space on some of them, and may not > make the most efficient use of CD-R space, but at $.90 each, > it is more > important to save labor and data than it is to maximize use > of space on > CD-Rs. The proggie also prints out a catalog of what is on each disk > and a set of labels on plain old Avery 5160s. Not fancy but it works. > > But it is not "removable media" because it is the entire HDD that is > removed, not just the media. Still 20 G on a HDD is a lot easier to > handle than 10 JAZ cartridges which incidentally cost three times the > price of the 20G HDD. And, of course, it is fun to try to > make JAZ and > its 2G really work well with Linux. > > Hope this is useful to someone else. > > Civileme > >
Re: [expert] ORB Drive
John Aldrich wrote: > On Wed, 10 Nov 1999, you wrote: > > John, > > > > OnStream only produce tape drives - I hate tape drives . . > > > Understood.. but at this point, it would appear that it's > the only "multi-gig" removeable media drive available for > Linux users. > John U How about an IDE HDD in a drawer? I use two of them and leapfrog and backup is down to single user for maintenance and the copy command. The backup (20 Gb worth) takes less time than my UPS is able to stay up. That's multi-gig and (kinda) removable. After a MAC WorkGroup Server 80 crashed in 1996 here and ALL of its QIC cartridges proved unrecoverable AND everyone lost 6 years work, people in this location are allergic to the mention of the word "tape". I have a Python program that takes the big disk and transfers all its files to CD-R on an off-line machine once a week. I'm not sure I could rebuild a bootable without reinstalling, but I know I can restore all the data files. No fancy compression schemes or anything like that. It can take a 2 G file (or even larger if such were supported) and spread it across several CD-Rs. I leave space on some of them, and may not make the most efficient use of CD-R space, but at $.90 each, it is more important to save labor and data than it is to maximize use of space on CD-Rs. The proggie also prints out a catalog of what is on each disk and a set of labels on plain old Avery 5160s. Not fancy but it works. But it is not "removable media" because it is the entire HDD that is removed, not just the media. Still 20 G on a HDD is a lot easier to handle than 10 JAZ cartridges which incidentally cost three times the price of the 20G HDD. And, of course, it is fun to try to make JAZ and its 2G really work well with Linux. Hope this is useful to someone else. Civileme
Re: [expert] ORB Drive
On Wed, 10 Nov 1999, you wrote: > John, > > OnStream only produce tape drives - I hate tape drives . . > Understood.. but at this point, it would appear that it's the only "multi-gig" removeable media drive available for Linux users. John
Re: [expert] ORB Drive
Michael, -Original Message- From: Michael Webb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wednesday, 10 November 1999 12:25 Subject: Re: [expert] ORB Drive >Hmm..you guys are going to hate this. >But I have had no probs with my orb drive here. >I installed it. booted up linux, and mounted it, formated the disks as ext2, >did some test backups, unmounted, remounted, restored, wrote backup script, >made cron entry, left disk in drive and went skiing. > >been doing daily backups for 8 weeks now. I like the orb, install, boot up, >pure majic in my opinion, co-exsists with my ls-120 and other ide's. Zip >drives are a pain in the butt compared to the orb. Thanks for your note - just to explain the problem I had and get a little more detail from you . . - I put a first cartridge in the (IDE) Orb drive and put an ext2 filesystem on it - I removed the first cartridge and put a second cartridge in the drive and put an ext2 filesystem on it - I mounted the filesystem and copied a number of files to it and did a listing to check that files were copied OK - I unmounted this cartridge, put the first cartridge back, mounted it and did a listing => it listed the files that had been put on the second cartridge! When I contacted the distributor and (eventually) Castlewood they seemed to know that this is what would happen - are you sure you are not getting this effect? Regards, Phil. Philip Rhoades Pricom Pty Limited (ACN 003 252 275) GPO Box 3411 Sydney NSW 2001 Australia Mobile: +61:0411-185-652 Fax: +61:2:9929-5312 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [expert] ORB Drive
Hmm..you guys are going to hate this. But I have had no probs with my orb drive here. I installed it. booted up linux, and mounted it, formated the disks as ext2, did some test backups, unmounted, remounted, restored, wrote backup script, made cron entry, left disk in drive and went skiing. been doing daily backups for 8 weeks now. I like the orb, install, boot up, pure majic in my opinion, co-exsists with my ls-120 and other ide's. Zip drives are a pain in the butt compared to the orb. Michael Webb
Re: [expert] ORB Drive
John, -Original Message- From: John Aldrich <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Tuesday, 9 November 1999 21:40 Subject: Re: [expert] ORB Drive >On Tue, 09 Nov 1999, you wrote: >> >Anyone have any experience with an ORB drive. Had 2 Sparq drives that >> >crashed and burned and damaged discs as well. I noticed on their web >> >site that the same guy that ran Syquest before declaring bankruptcy or >> >whatever is now running Castlewood, the company that makes the ORB. >> >> >> I bought the IDE version to test out (I would normally use SCSI) - I have a >> client who could use about 5/6 on different Linux servers. At the moment >> you can't use them as removable drives on Linux. I have started using this >> test drive on NT and backup across the network - it is still a bit flakey I >> think but at least seems to work on NT. >> >> I have finally got a response from Castlewood and the guy reckons they will >> have a Linux driver in the new year . . . >> >OnStream (www.onstream.com, IIRC) has Linux drivers for the >IDE version(s) of their removeable media drives. SCSI >drivers coming soon. OnStream only produce tape drives - I hate tape drives . . Phil. Philip Rhoades Pricom Pty Limited (ACN 003 252 275) GPO Box 3411 Sydney NSW 2001 Australia Mobile: +61:0411-185-652 Fax: +61:2:9929-5312 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [expert] ORB Drive
On Tue, 09 Nov 1999, you wrote: > >Anyone have any experience with an ORB drive. Had 2 Sparq drives that > >crashed and burned and damaged discs as well. I noticed on their web > >site that the same guy that ran Syquest before declaring bankruptcy or > >whatever is now running Castlewood, the company that makes the ORB. > > > I bought the IDE version to test out (I would normally use SCSI) - I have a > client who could use about 5/6 on different Linux servers. At the moment > you can't use them as removable drives on Linux. I have started using this > test drive on NT and backup across the network - it is still a bit flakey I > think but at least seems to work on NT. > > I have finally got a response from Castlewood and the guy reckons they will > have a Linux driver in the new year . . . > OnStream (www.onstream.com, IIRC) has Linux drivers for the IDE version(s) of their removeable media drives. SCSI drivers coming soon. John
Re: [expert] ORB Drive
Jim, -Original Message- From: Jim Adams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Monday, 8 November 1999 16:22 Subject: [expert] ORB Drive >Anyone have any experience with an ORB drive. Had 2 Sparq drives that >crashed and burned and damaged discs as well. I noticed on their web >site that the same guy that ran Syquest before declaring bankruptcy or >whatever is now running Castlewood, the company that makes the ORB. I bought the IDE version to test out (I would normally use SCSI) - I have a client who could use about 5/6 on different Linux servers. At the moment you can't use them as removable drives on Linux. I have started using this test drive on NT and backup across the network - it is still a bit flakey I think but at least seems to work on NT. I have finally got a response from Castlewood and the guy reckons they will have a Linux driver in the new year . . . Regards, Phil. Philip Rhoades Pricom Pty Limited (ACN 003 252 275) GPO Box 3411 Sydney NSW 2001 Australia Mobile: +61:0411-185-652 Fax: +61:2:9929-5312 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
