CompuServe Messages

Steve, > Now days, I use scsi tape streamer, and it's always got a tape in it. Yeah, but is it true that for a tape drive the motor isn't running unless you're accessing the tape? Not exactly a comparable situation, if so. > It's no different than a hard disk spinning. <Shrug> To be brutally honest, Steve, you're probably right. I guess it's just a bias I'm carrying based on how I've seen something work, and therefore think this _should_ work. Plus maybe the perception of the thing more as a floppy drive than a hard drive, since the medium is removable. Dunno. Humor me? <Smile> Rick P.S. Streaming tape now, eh? May I ask why you went this way? When I was looking for backup media, the way things priced out I had decided to buy a big SCSI hard drive for backups. I could easily get a 3.5" one-gig drive, removable mounting slides, and an external box to take the "plug-in" hard drive for hundreds less than a more-or-less equivalent sized tape drive. Plus I figured I'd get faster transfers and random access. (The only reason I got the SyQuest, in fact, is that a friend had it sitting brand-new and unused on a shelf, and only $350 for it with a cart.) Of course one tape drive and ten tapes is much cheaper than ten hard drives, but still… Was I not finding good prices on tape drives, or is there some reason to prefer them that I missed? Wondering for future reference.