Tape Drives
24 messages in this thread
I have been looking into tape drives for the Amiga recently and was
wondering if any of you out there who know about these devices if you
would share a little of that info.
– what drives are available
– what are the respective prices
– what are the pros/cons of these drives
Any info will be appreciated.
Bill
I use an Archive Viper 250 meg tape drive with AmiBack s/w from
Moonlighter. It allows incremental backups, and multiple backups to the
same tape. I like the setup a lot. I believe that Moonlighter sells a
bundle of their s/w and a drive for around $350.00.
$350 sounds like it is getting into my ball park. Tell me a little more
about the drive, is it SCSI? How about the software? What are blank tape
costs?
Thanks,
Bill
Bill:
Yes, the Archive Viper is a SCSI tpae system, 5.25" unit. The tapes cost
around $19 or so. Using AmiBack 2.0 I can backup my entire system (105 meg
Quantum and 80 meg Quantum) in about 20 minutes.
I've got an Exabyte 8500, a nice, fast 5 gig drive. I needed it for a
certain application (writing Abekas digital video tapes) but it also works
great as a backup unit. You have a choice between 1/4 inch, 4mm DAT drives
and 8mm drives. Right now, I think the DAT drives offer the most bang for
your buck. What do you want to do with the drive?
What software do you use to control it? I'm looking at maybe getting an
Exabyte 8200 (2 gig) 8mm back-up
Elite MicroComputers – via Whap!
The "BTN" tape handler from the public domain, and the public domain 'tar'
archiver. BTN gives simple block-structured reads and writes to the tape,
'tar' makes and breaks archives of groups of files, writing them as streams
to the tape, which works quite well.
5 gig is definitely overkill for me! I am looking for a tape drive for
backup puposes. It's one of those things that I have gotten used to on my
machine at work and decided that it would be great to have one at home.
The problem is the $200 Colorado Jumbos don't fit the Amiga.
DAT looks good, and technically it is terrific, but again, overkill for
me.
Thanks for the info..
Bill
Moonlighter sells refurbished SCSI QIC drives for around $350, including
Ami-Back software. (At least they were a few months ago.)
I was interested, but finances got tight again, so I never actually
ordered one.
Erik Flom
Thanks for the info…
Bill
I have the A3070 tape drive from Commodore and AmiBACK software. I don't
know the retail price of it, though. It works well. What more can I
say?
—Betty
I've got a Tanberg 3600 Tape Drive (150/250 MB) for $175. I believe the
units are refurbished, but it works fine.
John
Where did you get the Tanberg? Is it SCSI? If you could give me a little
more info I sure would appreciate it.
Bill
Bill, the Tanberg 3600 is SCSI. It says on it "Made for IBM by Tanberg"
with a manufacturing date of 6/90. It does backups and restores at 3 to 4
megs/min. You'll need something like Quarterback to backup to the Tape
Drive. I got it from Micro Dimensions at 508-650-9008. I use a GVP Series
II controller. The drive is a 5.25" unit. Let me know if you need more
info.
John
One last question on the Tanberg tape drive, do you know of or have you
heard of any problems using this drive with the built in SCSI controller
on the A3000? It may be a faulty impression, but I seem to have the
impression that the built in SCSI controller is a finicky beast.
Bill
Bill,
I have a Wangtek 5150-ES tape drive. At the time I ordered it, the
vendor also had the Tandberg, but he advised me to stay away from it. He
said it was slower than the Wangtek and not as reliable. I get about 5-6
Megs per minute backup speeds with the Wangtek.
Dom Fontana
<– Sent from New York via AutoPilot –>
Dom,
How much does the Wangtek cost? The Tandberg was described to me as a
refurbished unit for $175. Where did you purchase the Wangtek?
Thanks for the info,
Bill
Bill,
I purchased the Wangtek from TTR Development, who are now out of
business. The unit was brand new and not refurbished. I bought the Emerald
Tower and 6 tapes with it. I believe the drive itself was about $600.
It's technically a 150-meg tape drive, but can store 250-megs if used with
the 250-meg tapes.
Dom Fontana
<– Sent from New York via AutoPilot –>
I am currently using a Tandberg TDC 3600 tape drive with the A3000's built
in scsi. It works fine with Quarterback, HDBackup (yuk) or BRU, but
sometimes locks up the scsi bus when used with AmiBack 2.0f.1. The drive
is reasonably fast, and the price is RIGHT!
Darrin
Thanks for the info.
Bill
Bill, I can't say I know of anyone with an A3000 using this tape drive.
The GVP controller is also supposed to be finicky. I do know that four
other friends with an A500 or an A2000 and varied controllers have gotten
it to work. One other person could not get it to work and he was able to
return it. At that price, it might be worth a shot. Good Luck.
John
Thanks.
Bill
Just out of curiosity what Amiga do you have the A3070 attached to? I
have an A3000/25 w/WB2.04. Reason I ask is that it seems that I remember
people having trouble setting up that drive with particular configurations
(I may be wrong).
BTW I saw in AW this month that Software Hut has the A3070 for $349 (new).
Original retail $1095. Sounds like a good deal to me, but does this mean
CBM has washed it's hands of another piece of hardware?
Bill
I have the 3070 on a 2500 with 2.04, though it worked fine with 1.3 as
well. I never had a problem with it.
That sounds like a really good price to me!
—Betty