PAR backup?
24 messages in this thread
>>> Also, QIC-80 drives don't hold enough to make frequent backups very
attractive (too much tape swapping).<<<
I know what you mean about QIC-80. I hate almost everything about
them, except price. The slow speed and whining is annoying. I finally
bought a HP 1533 DAT. Totally opposite of QIC-80, superfast
(33MB/min), silent, and it holds 4-8+GB. I backed up a 400 frame
animation in under 6 minutes. Well worth the price in just time
savings, swapping, tape cost.
A 4-8GB DAT tape @ $20 compares to 4GB QIC-80 tapes @ $320 and 8GB
QIC-80 tapes @ $720. The price of the tape media offsets the price of
the drive.
>> I finally bought a HP 1533 DAT <<
I've been using a SONY SDT-5000 4mm DAT drive for about a month. I think it
uses the same DDS-2 tape as your drive. I can back up the PAR drive directly,
but have to go through my SCSI DOS disk for restore. Are you able to restore
directly to PAR? What about the dreaded frame >896 problem? (I am not
experiencing it).
Also, I am using Corel SCSI-2 and their backup program, which is pretty
limited. Do you have any suggestions for a good backup program — I have been
trying to get some info on NovaBack from NovaStor.
Thanks! Cal
>>> I've been using a SONY SDT-5000 4mm DAT drive for about a month. I think
it uses the same DDS-2 tape as your drive.<<<
Yep, the Sony SDT-5000, WangDAT 3400X, and HP C1533 are all DDS-2. The tapes
SHOULD be interchangable as far as data transfer goes.
>>>I can back up the PAR drive directly, but have to go through my SCSI DOS
disk for restore. Are you able to restore directly to PAR? What about the
dreaded frame >896 problem? (I am not experiencing it).<<<
My PAR arrives tomorrow (yipee!), but I hope I avoid the problems a few people
seem to be having. I heard problems with certain firmware versions on the
2217A, though I don't know which versions work. I just got the 2217A today.
My hardware is
Dell XPS P90 w/32MB RAM
#9 Imagine 128 video
1GB EIDE HD
Adaptec 2940 SCSI
NEC 4Xi CD-ROM
HP C1533 DAT
Plus the PAR and TBC IV.
>>>Also, I am using Corel SCSI-2 and their backup program, which is pretty
limited. Do you have any suggestions for a good backup program — I have been
trying to get some info on NovaBack from NovaStor.<<<
My Adaptec 2940 came with Backup Basics which is a stripped down version of
Backup Exec for Windows, seems to be OK. I have Norton Backup for DOS, but I
haven't checked to see if it supports the HP DAT, I used it with a QIC-80
previously. I will be adding a 2GB Seagate Barracuda in a few weeks and
removing the EIDE drive. So I hope to be backing up from PAR->DAT, and back.
I'll let you know if I have any problems with SCSI.
I've seen NovaBack, but haven't any info on it. I'm looking for DOS, Windows,
and OS/2-Warp backup programs. I'm going hunting for them after the holidays,
I'll post results. I'm also looking to get a program like Tape Store which
treats your DAT drive like a hard drive. With the fast 30 second access for a
file on DAT a sequential read/write of animation frames should be simple. I
have used that type of program on the Amiga and it worked great. Maybe that
will allow people to avoid backing up the PAR to tape since it will think the
DAT is a HD.
Tim:
/__________________From your message___________________\\
I'm also looking to get a program like Tape Store which treats your DAT drive
like a hard drive. With the fast 30 second access for a file on DAT a
sequential read/write of animation frames should be simple. I have used that
type of program on the Amiga and it worked great. Maybe that will allow people
to avoid backing up the PAR to tape since it will think the DAT is a HD.
________________________________________________________
This sounds really interesting. Is this Tape Store a DOS program? Could it be
used in a Video Post batch file to backup the just rendered frame to tape?
Bob
>>This sounds really interesting. Is this Tape Store a DOS program? Could it
be used in a Video Post batch file to backup the just rendered frame to tape?<<
I don't know about 'Tapestore' , but I have a program called TapeDisk that
treats most SCSI tape drives as a DOS disk. So copying files is simple. It
will allow straight DOS copies, but is quicker if you run a special copy
program that they supply. Works like a charm and should solve all of the
problems mentioned in this thread.
Suresh:
>> I have a program called TapeDisk that treats most SCSI tape drives as a
DOS disk <<
Could you tell me where you got TapeDisk? The manufacturer's name, maybe a
phone number?
Have you used it with a PAR system?
Thanks!
Cal
Tapedisk is authored by: Tapedisk corporation. 1-414-231-3333. It
supports most SCSI tapedrives including the Exabyte 8500 as well as
quite a few DAT drives.
Have you used this software for doing system backups? Is it
compatible with most backup software? It seems like using a 10Gig
DAT for backup purposes would be the way to go for truely _unatended_
backup!!
Yes. Yes and Yes. I use a 5 Gig Exabyte drive… I prefer not to
use tapedisk when doing a full system backup because when you use a
dedicated backup system like COREL's or CENTRAL POINT..it saves the
files as one huge 'thing'. DAT's and Tapes are real slow at moving
around so throwing the data at it in one go is better. For video
storage..as a kind of off-line / on-line massive storage mechanism,
tapedisk is superb.
Suresh:
TapeDisk sounds like what I'm after. Thanks for the info, I'll track it down.
Bob
See my other reply for the tel #.
Hope it works out for you.
SK.
Suresh:
Thanks for the information.
Bob
Cal:
/__________________From your message___________________\\
Are you able to restore directly to PAR? What about the dreaded frame >896
problem? (I am not experiencing it).
________________________________________________________
I dream of the >896 problem as I seem to be the only one languishing with a
>128 problem. I have no animation that will survive a backup/resotre if its
longer than only 128 frames. This really sucks! Although I thought your
message was a scorcher I might be compelled to add fuel to your fire shortly. I
would just just like to hear DPS say that they were trying to help us out here
EVEN IF IT ISN'T THEIR PROBLEM. It concerns the usability of their product and
it would just be good business, IMHO, to identify the cause.
Bob
>> I have no animation that will survive a backup/resotre if its longer than
only 128 frames <<
Curiouser and Curiouser…
I havn't had a chance to experiment with v1.30 drivers. I'm using 1.09
currently. What are you using?
Cal
Do you have the backup problem with 1.09???
BTW in PAL we seem to start at 1.29 and then 1.33 but with all versions we seem
to have the problem althugh with 1.29 woe also had another problem PRJ
deletion.
This seems to be solved with 1.33 however, my PAR backup problem really is
eating me away, it is such an anoying problem.
Christophe
Christophe:
I don't remember how you responded to this question, so I'll ask it again:
Does the problem exist if you use the DOS command line COPY command to move
files back and forth to the PAR drive, that is, outside of PAR.EXE?
I loaded the PAR 1.30b drivers and tried 1,100 frame copies both ways, no
problems.
Cal
Cal:
/_______________________From your message________________________\\
I loaded the PAR 1.30b drivers and tried 1,100 frame copies both ways, no
problems. __________________________________________________________________
Please elaborate on your setup as you appear to be the only one succeeding
here.
Bob
Bob:
>> Please elaborate on your setup <<
I am using a Gateway P5-90 Pentium, 32Mb RAM
DOS 6.22
HIMEM.SYS and EMM386 for memory managers
SCSI-2 drives:
Future Domain TMC-1680 SCSI controller
Future Domain PowerSCSI! 4 ASPI drivers
Corel SCSI-2 drivers
1.0Gb SCSI DOS drive, ST11400N
Sony SDT-5000 4mm DAT drive
PAR board model DR-2100
Micropolis 2217A PAR drive,
PAR software:
PAR initializer V1.13
PAR.HEX V1.10
PARDRV V1.4
PAR.EXE V1.09
Also works with a Gateway P5-60 motherboard. Tried PAR.HEX v1.11 and still no
problem.
Hope this helps. If you want more info, just holler!
Have a 3D Christmas and a Gamma fine New Year!
Cal
Cal:
I appreciate your effort. Looks like our collective voice has been heard
(Thanks to Brick for letting us know that DPS is helping out on this one).
The only major difference I see in our configurations is that I use QEMM vs
EMM386.
Bob
Bob:
>> The only major difference I see in our configurations is that I use QEMM vs
EMM386 <<
I don't have QEMM or I'de give it a try it. Maybe you could try EMM386? Are
you on a Gateway 2000 / SCSI platform then?
Have a Gamma Fine Christmas!
Cal
Cal:
I am using v1.30b but have tried restoring animations with v1.09 and have had
the same problem at the same place.
7*128 = 898. There was mention that the problem occurs on frame numbers which
are multiples of 128.
Bob
Bob:
>> I am using v1.30b but have tried restoring animations with v1.09 and have
had the same problem at the same place. <<
I assume that's the case using both PAR.EXE and the DOS command line?
I have NOT had the problem from DOS using the PAR drivers from PAR v1.09 or
v1.30b, nor have I had the problem with PAR.EXE v1.09. I tried using PAR.EXE
v1.30b and I get the following message:
Fatal Error 286.2230, Load Program Failed — out of memory
from the 286 Pharlap extender. This is also true with the v1.27b drivers. I
have 625k of base memory free prior to loading the PAR drivers, 590k free
after, as well as 29Mb of XMS memory. I couldn't free up any more memory if I
had to. This is the first time I have tried v1.27 or v1.30b up on this
machine, a P5-90 — didn't have the problem on a P5-60 with identical memory,
drives, etc..
Any ideas? I'd like to try to replicate the problem. I feel kind of left
out, what with everyone else having corrupted file problems…
Cal
Cal:
/_______________________From your message________________________\\
I assume that's the case using both PAR.EXE and the DOS command line?
__________________________________________________________________
I have only copied .ANI files back to the PAR with a DOS command.
I'll check my available memory but I know I am no where near your 590k free of
conventional memory.
Bob
strange I've only never been able to restore >896 never had any problem so far
with >128
When are they going to fix this problem so we could all live happily ever after
with our PAR???
Christophe