tape/backup systems

[Brett McCoy]

In <3395 at dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> merritt at iris613.gsfc.nasa.gov (John H Merritt) writes:

>In the August 6, 1990 issue of Unix Today, Cybernetics advertizes
>8mm with 10.24GB at 60MB/min.

That tape drive gets it's so called 10G from data compression.  10G is a
maximum that you are going to get.  That equates to a 4x compression, which
you are not going to get very often.  Mostly you will get 2x unless you
have a lot of compressed files that you back up which you could wind up
expanding when you try to compress it.  You also have no way of determining
beforehand how much data is actaully going to fit on the drive.  Also, the
data compression is an option to their normal drive.  If I remeber right
it adds over $1000 to the cost, which isn't one of the cheaper drives
on the market in the first place.  All in all, unless you are backing
up mainly text with little binary code or compressed files, it isn't
going to work real well.
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>John H. Merritt                   #  Yesterday I knew nothing,
>Applied Research Corporation      #  Today I know that.
>merritt at iris613.gsfc.nasa.gov     #
--
Too bad the universe doesn't run in a segmented environment with
protected memory. -- Wiz from "Wizards Bane" by Rick Cook
Brett McCoy                 | Kansas State University
brtmac at maverick.ksu.ksu.edu | UseNet news manager.