Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!ucsd!ucbvax!hplabs!hpda!athertn!alex From: alex@athertn.Atherton.COM (Alex Leavens) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Tape Drive Backup Message-ID: <18154@laurel.athertn.Atherton.COM> Date: 12 Feb 90 19:11:38 GMT References: <17425@laurel.athertn.Atherton.COM> <1990Feb12.015226.25152@gumby.cc.wmich.edu> Reply-To: alex@Atherton.COM (Alex Leavens) Organization: Atherton Technology, Sunnyvale, CA Lines: 71 obryan@gumby.cc.wmich.edu (Mark O'Bryan) wonders why I like the BMS Tape backup unit better than the ICD unit. Well, first off, I don't like it better; I've never used the ICD unit, so I can't really say. The BMS unit is a do-it-yourself type box, and the ICD isn't. There are some of us (me included, :-) who actually like putting something together, rather than just taking it out of a box. (If I bought an ICD unit, the first thing I'd do would be to take it apart and see how it works! ). >Unless you're planning on transporting data to/from Unix boxes via this >medium, I'm not sure what value this "standard" would have. Perhaps the >intention is that the tapes are easier to find? The standard cartridge tapes are very easy to find; my basis for this comment was one ICD owner who mentioned to me that the tapes for that unit seemed to be hard to find and expensive. >The ICD box allows both file-oriented and image backups, which comes in >handy for Spectre (and possibly Minix?) partitions. Actually, there's one person on the net (Howard Bell), who's got image backup working for the BMS unit. >While most places will try to charge anywhere from $30 to $40 for the >CT-600N digital cassette tapes that the ICD box uses, I know of two places >(at least) they can be obtained for $19 a piece. Since I don't know the >capacity of the BMS tapes, I'm not sure how the $15 compares to the $19 >for 155 meg capacity. Typical cartridge tapes are between 60 and 300 meg capacity. >Hmmm, impressive. The ICD unit runs 6-7 megs a minute, and also runs fully >unattended. One disadvantage, of course, is that you only get to sleep >1/7-th as long ;-). Yes, but if you used to use floppy, then it _is_ a heck of a difference. >If you really want to roll your own, the bare TEAC tape drives can be found >for ~$400. Add $100 for a host adapter, $100 for a box/power supply, plus >a little extra for miscellaneous cables and mounting hardware. You saved >maybe $160 for your efforts. Now sit down and start writing the backup >software. Doesn't seem like much of a savings to me. (I considered that >option and rejected it. I might have come to a different conclusion if I >was going to, say, stuff a whole stack of peripherals in a tower case. Your prices aren't right. BMS will sell you a very nice tower case with power supply and fan for ~$50. (It's big, though). Tape drive mechs, used, are nowhere near $400--$100 is more like it. (And I've seen them for even less). So for $250, you can have drive, host adapter, box, power supply and cables. When you buy the BMS board, if you tell them what you're using it for, they give you the backup software too. So your cost is more like $250, and it's not a savings of $160, but more like $500-$600. This is worth it, IMHO. (Especially if you like getting your hands dirty :-). Again, I haven't used an ICD unit at all; from everything I've seen, they are very nice units. I was just trying to give people a pointer to another option which is worthwhile in checking out, especially if you have more time than money. -- |-------------------------------------------------------------------------| |--alex | alex@Atherton.COM | Caution! Falling Opinions, next 6 miles | | "Mmmm...Ooo, say...Yummm......Blewuechh! Tiggers _don't_ like honey." | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------|