Tape Prices Slashed
20 messages in this thread
TAPE HARDWARE PRICES PLUMMET
(Jan. 9)
Colorado Memory Systems is slashing the price of its tape backup systems.
The company says tape backup hardware has been too costly for most computer
users.
"Of the 20 million or more PCs sold every year, only about 1 million are
sold with tape backup," says Ed Harper, Colorado Memory Systems' president.
"We want to ensure that the other 19 million users safeguard their data
with a low-cost, efficient and reliable backup system."
Colorado Memory Systems spokesman Art Stapp told Online Today that the
new pricing structure makes the Colorado Jumbo 120 ($250) the least
expensive drive on the market. Recent manufacturing improvements in the
company's US plant are said to be responsible for the lower cost. Pricing
on the top-of-the-line Jumbo 250 tape system has been lowered by almost a
third.
–James Moran
Are these tape drives SCSI compatable? Can I just plug one into my GVP
controller and go? I spent a couple hours and 30 disks backing up just one
partition on my hard drive last night. A tape drive is starting to look
mighty good to me!
The $350 drives from Moonlighter will do exactly what you described — plug
'n go — and will back up 250MB on one tape.
Pardon me, but I seem to be coming into this thread mid-way. What is
Moonlighter? Is there an address of phone number available? This
sounds very good to me!
Moonlighter: (407) 628-3005 Author of Ami-Back – Gary Holland
I see Andrew Brown gave you their phone number already, so I won't
duplicate it. I bought the drive already. It's a factory-reconditioned
Archive drive with all new electronics and new heads (about the only thing
'used' on it is the frame). Has a new bezel & in every possible way acts
and looks brand new. It will take 150MB and 250MB takes & runs off your
SCSI controller. Only things you need supply are a cable and mounting
hardware (four 6-32 screws available at Radio Shack or your local hardware
store for a few cents). You may also have to purchase a hard drive power
cable splitter at your computer store depending on whether you have a free
power cable.
I've had mine for about three weeks now; it's set up to automatically do a
full system backup to tape at 4am every day. I love it!
Pete
How much and where can they be gotten? Missed the opening of this thread.
…Dave
I called them yesterday and got it today. Plug the tape in and Backed up a
210 meg partition. It's just too easy. I now dare my HardDrive to puke 🙂
Moonlighter has their stuff together. $350 sounds better than $950 anyday.
Paul
By the way, backups aren't just faster, they happen while you sleep.
–pt–not seattle– 😉
Nothing is that easy! <g> Seriously, the tape drive does have to be set as
a SCSI device, correct? Is this a stand alone unit or is it supposed to
plug into a a 3 1/5 or 5 1/4 bay (both of which are full on my A2000.)
Thanks.
Leslie,
It is set up as a SCSI device. The unit we've been talking about is an
inboard unit, which would fit the 5-1/4" drive slot. But I believe they
also have an outboard, standalone drive that would plug into the SCSI port
on the back panel. You should give Moonlighter a call and check it out.
Pete
Thanks for the info, Pete. Do you have the number of Moonlighter? I've
been waiting for Qic Tape but they have been promising the thing for so
long with no product!
Leslie,
I don't have it here — I have it at my office.
Feel free to give me a call tomorrow at (203)-863-5270, and I'll look it up
for you (or maybe someone else on the board will give it to you).
Pete
Leslie,
By the way — after some additional research I decided that Moonlighter's
deal was MUCH better than than the Qic tape. The Qic tape is only 60MB;
Moonlighter's drive is 250MB. Moonlighter's drive is MUCH faster than the
Qic tape (6MB/minute). And it's CHEAPER. Plus, it comes with software
that will run resident and back up your stuff at night, automatically.
Hard to beat it.
Pete
The one advantage to Qic Tape (if the darn thing ever becomes more than
vapor) is that it is transportable. When I get the money I would like to
run my 9 year old BBS onto an Amiga. If I can buy one tape drive that I
can switch from one computer to another that would be a savings. I have a
question I have about tape size. Lets say I have 100 meg hard drive and a
44 meg Syquest. Can I back up both with the same 250 meg tape? Thanks.
If you mean you have two drives running on the same machine, then yes, you
can back them both up on the same tape. The one drawback, however, is that
you can only have one backup on one tape; each backup overwrites the
previous one. You can't have several sequential backups on the same reel.
On the other hand, the drive will also take 150MB tapes so you don't waste
tape you can't use.
Pete
Thanks for the advice Pete. I called about that Moonlight drive (did I
just make a joke?) and got his prices. The refurbushed tape drive does
sound good. money is tight but I'm going to see if I can swing it in a few
days. BTW, he sells an external "kit" that will allow the Moonlight to be
mounted externally. It has it's own fan, all cables, and the price is
$120. Thanks again.
Leslie,
Yeah, I knew he had some way of dealing with external units; I just didn't
know the pricing. BTW, the word 'refurbished' often has an ominous ring to
it. In this case, what that means for all practical purposes is that they
re-use the drive's frame. The working parts: heads, electronics, etc..,
are all new. What you receive looks and works exactly like a brand new
drive; you just don't have to pay most of the manufacturing costs. Mine's
been a joy to use.
Also — sorry if I kinda gave you the bum's rush when you called — I was
doing on on-line edit for a major video promotion that had a hard deadline
of 4:30 that afternoon and we were behind schedule. Otherwise I would have
stayed on the line and chatted a bit.
Pete
Pete:
> If you mean you have two drives running on the same machine, then yes,
you > can back them both up on the same tape. The one drawback, however,
is that
Is there anyway to use tape to transfer files from my Amiga to my 386?
Regards Charles
It's a matter of the software that does the backup. For instance, if you
have a Unix-based system, the handling of tape is fairly standardized; so
you can almost undoubtedly copy files to tape from an Amiga Unix box and
read them from a 386-based Unix box. The trouble comes in when you're
using backup software that uses a proprietary method of writing the files
to tape, particularly if some kind of file compression is used. Unless the
same company writes software for both platforms, I suspect that
compatibility might be a real problem. Unless someone else who reads this
has some personal experience in that regard, the best thing to do would be
to contact the manufacturer of the sofware and ask them if it can be done.
Pete
I've just gotta save my money and get one of those things so I can sleep at
night too.