Phil Mendelsohn wrote:

> On 22 May 2001, Jon Schewe wrote:
>
> > I found a place I can get this tape drive from for $180, however it's got a
> > cracked loader tray that'll probably cost $200 to fix.
>
> Bummer.  I'd look for a better one, unless it's some hella tape drive.

I would look for something smaller then.  A 7 tape autoloader seems to be kinda
overkill.
20GB?  Does that include OS or is that just storage capacity?  If your OS goes
bad I would recomend reinstall instead of pulling it from backup.
I would seriously look at some other technologies.  DLT is really nice and can
get 40-80 GB per tape depending on the drive.  I personally use DLT and think
they are very nice.
They may be more expensive but they are more reliable than cassette like tapes
simply because of the design.  I have no idea what the comparison is between
them on long term storage and shock resistance -- stuff like that -- but I have
used them for a couple of years and never had one go bad or get corrupted.
For something as small as that you could just get a CD-RW and pick and choose
what you want to backup.

Short answer - Don't go for it man.  Get a cheaper one that fits your needs
better.

> > What do you all think of using tape vs hard drives for backup?
>
> Who uses hard drives?  I'd put a smiley, but actually I want to know!

I've heard of people using HD instead of Tape but not as the only backup.  Just
as a primary backup with tape as a secondary long term storage.  HD are less
reliable but much faster for restoring.

sim