Cheap Tape Drives for Linux? 26
Doug Muth asks: "Does anyone have any suggestions for a specific brand of tape drive I should purchase to use under Linux? SCSI tape drives are expensive (plus they require you to get a SCSI adapeter), so I've been looking at some
IDE TR-4 tape drives. However, according Red Hat's Hardware Compatibility List,
while IDE tape drives are "compatible", Red Hat
does not support them." Anyone willing to pass along some helpful suggestions and/or more informaiton on the Red Hat/TR-4 issue?
How expensive is "too expensive"? (Score:2)
I really recommend SCSI for backups, mostly because everything supports it and it's pretty much foolproof. It really isn't all that expensive either.
- A.P.
--
"One World, one Web, one Program" - Microsoft promotional ad
Reliable? (Score:2)
Don't forget about reliability. Quote from one of our top marketing people (I work for STK, we own the tape market on the high end) "It used to be that all unix systems, SUN, HP, SGI, etc came with Exabyte 8mm tape drives, and it was great, you could do backs all day any time no problem. You never could read the tapes backs, but at least you could check the little box that said you had a backup." (Exabyte has improved since then, and since he is in marketing he was stretching the truth a little) His point was that backups are worthless if you can't read them back. Some of those older tape drives wrote tapes that could only be read on the drive that wrote them (as they got older the heads went out of allignement), and then you were screwed if you had a failure.
That said, SCSI is not that expensive, and scsi drives have a better chance of working. Just buy a scsi adaptor. Soon you will be like me and refuse to touch IDE again... :)
I too am looking for a good backup. Problem is backups are not easy. I want to backup /home which will soon move to a 9 gig disk, or even bigger. (Amanda isn't happy about dealing with partitions bigger then the tape - not saying amanda is the best way to backup), I really want to backup some macs over my network, and nothing deals with that.
Onstream (Score:1)
I know the driver's beta, and the drives are cheap, but there is an Onstream 30/50G tape driver for Linux [onstream.com].
That said, I might note that DAT drives get tweeky after a while because of their mechanical complexity. (Think VCR, but tiny.) 4mm tapes are cheap, used drives can be a bargain, but don't bet the farm on one. Don't even use it until you get a cleaning tape! (I got mine at the University Bookstore in Seattle.)
QIC/Travan drives are way cheap, moderately reliable, Linux-supported but even the IDE ones are quite slow.
Cheap Tape drives for Linux. (Score:1)
reliability is key for businesses! (Score:2)
Software for network backups (quasi off-topic) (Score:1)
Does anyone have any recommendations for centralized network backup software? How about backing up something securely (i.e. outside the firewall, in the DMZ)over the network?
HP Colorado IDE 5GB (Score:1)
It is actually a 2.5GB, and the 5GB is after compression.
I got it faily cheap (700 Saudi Riyals March 1999 ~ 187$). I saw it cheaper on some internet sites (can't remember which, but try www.shopper.com [shopper.com]).
Worked straight out the box on the first try. Did not need to do any kernel recompilation, nor download any drivers...
The only drawback so far, is that it seems the media is a bit hard to find (at times) in the local market (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia)
Good luck.
Re:Software for network backups (quasi off-topic) (Score:1)
Is there any cross platform software that is more intelligent than just tar/dump and can be used to recover from a total drive crash (no/minimal OS)?
Duplicating files between boxes and archiving off critical files to DVD-RAM is sooooooo slow.
IDE hard drive space getting cheaper all the time (Score:1)
Avoid Sony SuperStation (Score:2)
HP Colorado Drivers? (Score:1)
K.
Re:IDE hard drive space getting cheaper all the ti (Score:1)
as far as the FUD relating to magnetism, we have a system who's drive is less than a foot from the voice coil of a 22" speaker. aside from the occasional rattle when playing quake at full blast, the machine works fine. granted that it is a win2k box i don't much care about, but it's been in that location for some weeks without the drive suddenly going blank.
there's a huge difference between being a foot away from a huge magnet and being 1 micron away from a r/w head (as in a hard drive or dat).
also, don't forget that DATs are digital. that means a value n 0. given n is a proper value, you can have a lot of varience from the first 0 to the second 0 and it will still read a proper value of 0. a little stray magnatisim wont kill your data.
this is why analog tapes suck, and DAT is the standard.
Don't do it! (Score:3)
Having the backups up and running is of course good, but also means that you can't store older backups nor have them off-site which makes a backup system quite worthless, IMHO. But you were looking for cheap :)
Amanda can do it well (Score:1)
I just wish there was a way to implement grandfather-father-child type of multi-level backup on Amanda. Anyone?
You can find the source at www.amanda.org [amanda.org], and Red Hat contrib dir in RPM format.
DAT's right (Score:2)
The only problem I have with it is that it's internal compression is about equivalent to gzip -1; I like better. A reasonably fast machine, the alternative compression program of your choice, and the buffer program [ic.ac.uk] can solve that problem.
Also, don't buy the "new" Adaptec 2940UWPro (the one that can drive all the connectors at once) SCSI controller to hook your new drive to, it doesn't speak to Sony tapes, and Adaptec's response is: "We know. Too bad." Excretus Est Ex Altitudine
Re:DDS-2 is cheaper than Travan (Score:2)
Current prices from CDW
Sony SDT-7200/BM DDS-2 drive $440
10 DDS-2 tapes $9-10 ea $100 total $540
Seagate TR-4 Travan drive $240
10 TR-4 tapes $31-32 ea $320 total $560
Re:Just don't get an Eagle TR-4i (Score:1)
- Heat failure (inside the computer it is slightly hotter than outside, a very near failure component will be much more sensitive to temperature).
- Power/IDE cables aren't too good (try out new ones).
- Bad solder joint on the PCB on the Tape Drive (perhaps even at the IDE and/or power connectors)
- Or... least likely, it is being caused by stress on the drive from being in the drive bay (ie. bending it enough something sorta shorts or the heads/mechanisms are slightly out of alignment).
- Another thing, I just thought of, is that if you are leaving it hanging, the only ground connection to the drive is through its cables. Check if the ground from the drives ground pins (on the power/IDE connector) is perfectly continuous with the case.
Re:How expensive is "too expensive"? (Score:1)
TIA,
Tony
Some advice (OK, lots of advice :-) (Score:1)
2. Run a cleaning tape at least weekly. I run one everytime I use my drive, maybe that's why it still works fine after 5 years.
3. Check your backups to make sure they worked.
4. Figure in the cost of the media as at least as important as the drive itself. Those cheap looking IDE QIC drives have cartridges that not only don't hold much but cost a fortune as well. DAT is _really_ cheap media and holds a lot. You don't have to worry about getting a few extra tapes since it will only cost $20.
5. Since you should go with SCSI anyway, get an external drive. It's very handy to have the capability of taking the drive over to a new machine or a friend's house.
6. It's just plain easier to do incremental backups to another disk, then back up the disk at your convenience. This applies for home use only.
7. Get a data grade fire safe. Those paper grade safes don't help media at all. APStech.com sells a small one for $140.
8. Separate what data you have that is static from that which changes/is important onto different file systems. Backups are lots easier and faster if you don't back up your MP3 collection daily.
My setup: I back up any file that has changed in the last half hour to a separate disk, then back up
ide + travan = evil (Score:1)
not to mention its other weeknesses, mainly 1) its slow and 2) its loud and obnoxious (if only the server didnt reside 5 feet from my desk!).
personally, if it were up to me, the thing would be in the dumpster and we'd have a shiney new scsi dds-3 drive. *sigh*
--Siva
Keyboard not found.
Re:HP Colorado Drivers? (Score:1)
Re:reliability is key for businesses! (Score:1)
Actually, my experience has been about the same..
Backups are worth the money if you need them, and the cheaper "consumer" QIC drives have given me fits, but the DDS drives I've used have never failed me..
Of course, YMMV..
Flaky ground on tape drive (Score:1)
Hey, yeah. I had that exact problem long ago with big SCSI 1/4" drive (an Archive Scorpion i think). The thing would only work setting on top of the computer, but not when bolted in. It didn't like the case ground.
Think I disconnected a ground strap in the drive to make it work.