#CD ROM vs. TAPE Cartridg
6 messages in this thread
Hi,
Could anybody help me out with some information, comparing the pro and cons of
tape cartridges as backup storage media against the CD ROM. I'm after the more
technical stuff, performance reports, etc. If you know of reports, articles,
library uploads etc. please let me know!
Regards
Dirk
I have no technical reports but I have used the Pinnalce 1000 for 3 months now
as backup and compared to colorado tape , it is fast accurate and easy to use.
Expensvie 12.00 per 600 megs, but aside from that it is my first choice now in
backing up my hard drives.
I assume that CD ROM definitely is superior. I just would like to have some
hard facts to bach this feeling up. Thanks for your comment anyway!
regards
Dirk
Dirk,
Tape offers higher data transfer rates and much higher capacity per unit of
medium than CD-R, and arguably requires less skilled attention than cutting a
CD. If your idea of backup is just to copy a limited number of data files that
you've recently modified, CD-R may suit you fine. OTOH, if you want to do a
"complete" backup daily or so, and/or medium cost is important, and/or your
drives have grown into the GB range, tape is the way to go.
I have the same hardware and s/w that Dr. DeMauro is using, but haven't
installed the backup s/w – my understanding is that it doesn't close the
sessions, leaving the CD readable only in the CD-R machine. The non-backup s/w
that ships with the machine can be extremely tedious, so I was wondering if
there had been any rough spots during along the road to "three months of happy
use".
John
You are right that Easy-CD BackUp, and its twin sold by Pinnacle, do not
automatically close a session with every write. This is done to save space on
the disc (you lost 13 megabytes in lead-out for every session closed), and we
are assuming that usually you would be making backups for your own use and
would therefore always have access to the CD recorder and the BackUp software
with its Restore function to get your files back from the backup disc.
However, there is also a "make disc compatible" option which allows you to
close a session so that the disc can be read on a multisession CD-ROM drive.
Perhaps Dr. DeMauro would like to leap in here and explain why CD-R is a
storage medium considered usable for legal purposes, while tape is not…
Perhaps not a consideration for everybody, but certainly important in his
hospital! BTW, similar laws about the admissibility of media have recently
been passed in Europe as well; I'll be speaking to a bunch of lawyers here in
Milan at the end of the month and expect to hear more about it then.
Ciao,
Deirdre' Straughan
Incat Systems
PMFJI but I'm looking into doing exactly what you are.
Would you please give me a little info about the hardware (PC CPU, RAM, HD
types & size, Operating System, etc) you are using.
What software are you using to control the CD-R drive?
TIA