Byte Jan 87 retrospective.

From: Charles P. Hobbs <transit_at_primenet.com>
Date: Sun May 18 09:24:50 1997

On Sat, 17 May 1997, Sam Ismail wrote:

> On Fri, 16 May 1997, Paul E Coad wrote:
>
> > Videotrax
> > This was an interesting system. It consisted of a board which plugged
> > into a PC and some software which allowed backups of a system using a
> > VCR. They claimed to be able to get up to 80MB per tape. They also sold
> > a VCR which allowed unattended
>
> I saw this system at AppleFest '89. It was pretty interesting. I think
> the problem with this system and why it never caught on is because: a)
> let's face it, hooking your computer to a VCR is lame and b) it was slow.

I remember a similar system (Corvus Mirror) that we had in our
undergraduate
computer lab (UCSB, 1984-86 or so). I also remember someone doing a
research project on document preservation by storing digitized copies of
documents on a videotape with one of these backup devices.

In both cases, there were problems with the reliability of the backups
(seems that VHS tapes aren't such a great medium for data storage, anyway)
Received on Sun May 18 1997 - 09:24:50 BST