#PAR and DAT backup?
16 messages in this thread
I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for high-capacity
backup for the PAR, DAT or otherwise? I'm interested in knowing what
people are successfully using to backup their PAR data. I am
currently using QIC 80 and am finding it is a real hassle for large
animations. Any suggestions?
Try a 4mm DAT SCSI tape. I use two. An 8Gig unit from HP (runs around
$1.4k) and a 2Gig unit from Archive (Archive Python) which runs for a
little less than $1k. The HP flies at around 50M a minute (from an
Unix workstation). The Archive isn't any slow poke either at 15M a
minute (from a Pentium system).
Hey Gus!
Thanks for the suggestions! 2 quick questions:
1) Are the units SCSI?
2) Are you backing up straight offthe PAR drive?
Thanks again
Jim G.
P.S. – NDUMP is great! I do have one question about it, but I'll save
that for a rainy day.
I'm doing a two step disk mirror process. I routinely copy my .ANI
files over to a DEC Alpha workstation via Pathworks. From there I
have them backed off to an Exabyte 8500.
1)Yes they're both SCSI. Just plug and play (well, sort off. You know
how that goes).
2)Either way. I don't think I have any real pattern (nor any animation
worth saving for that matter). Technically, it's better to transfer
the animation to a computer first and than to tape. The PAR has a
very sloooooow transfer rate over the PC bus. The tape has to keep
coming back as it gets way ahead of the game (it expects a data
stream of at least 300k a second). By transferring the animation to
disk first and then to tape saves the tape unit from excessive wear.
NDUMP was designed as a generic tool. It can do things people don't
even realise. As such, it has too many questions and people get
pretty confused. Specially when dealing with shared disks that have
different mount points in different computers. I'm finishing a PAR
specific NDUMP that asks no questions. It just does what's supposed
to do.
Gus,
I'm not claiming to know all of the uses of NDUMP, but I do think it is a great
and powerful tool.
I think my question might be an easy one and actually I have already setup a
work around, but I just thought I would get your opinion.
I have a few pentiums on my networked and often render a few different projects
a night on the network. I have noticed however that NDUMP uses a single file,
NDUMP.TMP, to specify the next frame to dump and that file gets written when
you exit the NDUMP setup box. So when I set up my first animation to use NDUMP
and put it in the queue, everything is AOK.
Now I setup my second animation and as soon as I exit the NDUMP setup box, my
first animation stops NDUMPing because NDUMP.TMP no longer coincides with my
first project. Now for every project I add, NDUMP.TMP always coincides to the
last project I add. If I reset NDUMP.TMP to the proper frame for the currently
rendering animation, NDUMP will only dump the current animation.
**** THE WORK AROUND ****
To get around this problem I wrote a batch file I call NDSET. Which looks like
this:
@echo off
echo %1 > network-path\NDUMP.TMP
I execute this batch file in my Video Post Queue on the first frame to be
rendered and this resets NDUMP.TMP at the beginning of each project in the
Network Queue.
This seems to work provided I make sure to reset NDUMP.TMP if there was an
active network job when I exited the NDUMP setup.
I was just wondering if had an easier way to accomplish the same task?
Glad to hear about the PAR specific version. Let me know when it becomes
available.
Thanks – Jim G.
That's one of the things I'm working on. First of all, there is a new name. It
is now called PAROUT as it is specific to the PAR. PAROUR doesn't create any
temp files. I rely on the *.DAT file 3D Studio creates at the end of each
render. That way, you can have multiple projects queued up and PAROUT will take
care of them all in the right order (i.e. those projects that have PAROUT as
the last process on the VP queue). I've also eliminated all questions. If you
just click on PAROUT it will start working. No need to setup anything (though
you still can go in and set "advanced" parameters). PAROUT know which machine
has the PAR so you don't have to set the NETNAME. It also knows where the image
files are being created and the file name used. No need to specify that. It
knows how many frames there are, the step count, and it will properly wait for
the last frame to be ready so there will not be a problem of missing a couple
of frames at the end of a batch process. It creates a log file that can
pinpoint any problem that might occur so trouble shooting will be very simple
(famous last words). There is massive amounts (proportionally speaking) of AI
in this new (totally rewriten) code. I'm sure it will make everyone pleased.
Sounds great, Gus.
>> I'm finishing a PAR specific NDUMP that asks no questions. It just does
what's supposed to do.
Brilliant!
Hi Gus,
I noticed your post regarding DAT drives. We have a new DDS-2 drive and are
having a difficult time getting our software (Arcada Backup Exec) working
properly. What software do you use?
Christopher
That's the question of the century. I have yet to find a Backup software for
the PC that works (specially with SCSI tapes). They all stink. I tried just
about everyone out there. I did have some luck with Fifth Generation FastBack
but it didn't work with the Pentium so I had to forget it. On the PC I've been
using Central Point's backup. It's a russian roulette type deal. Some times it
works, sometimes it doesn't. I don't care too much as all important data goes
off to the file server. This would be just to avoid having to reinstall all the
software in the world in case the disk goes bad.
The server is Unix. I use (what else) TAR. Never fails but it's plain nuts to
try to restore a couple of files only. I have an X front end that allows
selecting files (or directories) to restore but it takes a good 45 minutes just
to build the file list. Backup is automatic. It goes off every morning at 8am
and I switch between 8 tapes (seven days a week and one gets stored for ever or
until I run out of tapes, whichever comes first).
I've been using WinNT's 'backup' with my Exabyte 8500. So far, so
good. I can backup and verify everything (almost 2 gigs) on my
machine in less than an hour – I may be wrong, I always
set-and-forget it when I leave at night. It has a simple
file-manager-like interface for retrieving old files. It does
multiple sets per tape, too, so I'm not wasting the full size of
those 5 gig tapes. 🙂
I tried that too. After locking up twice in the middle of a backup session I
gave up.
I've had good luck with Novaback/Novastor on a 486/66 and on an SGI
Indy using an HP DAT backup (DDS1, I think).
I use Nova stuff too, on the PC and really like it. I'm still just
tar-ing on SGI, but I'd like to have a more flexible interface.
John,
>> I use Nova stuff too, on the PC and really like it. <<
me too. I've also used tar on the SGI Indy and it's rather lacking in features
but it does work.