archiving as opposed to backing up

From: Teo Zenios <teoz_at_neo.rr.com>
Date: Tue Sep 21 03:19:14 2004

----- Original Message -----
From: "Zane H. Healy" <healyzh_at_aracnet.com>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Monday, September 20, 2004 11:36 PM
Subject: Re: archiving as opposed to backing up


> >On Mon, 2004-09-20 at 15:59, Teo Zenios wrote:
> > > Tape is still the best method for archiving files, if its not worth
> >> the time
> >> to backup a file to DAT then the file is not worth backing up (keeps
> >> you
> >> from archiving things you will never need). I use cdrs for music and
> >> copying
> > > other cd's.
>
> PLEASE tell me you don't archive data to DAT tapes! They're DAT and
> 8mm tapes are among the worst storage formats around. If you must
> archive to tape, archive to DLT, and keep in mind that you should
> refresh the tapes every 5 years.
>
> Zane
>

Exactly why is DAT such a bad storage format? And which variety of DAT are
you referring to (DDS,DDS2,DDS3,DDS4..etc)?
DLT tapes are expensive, so are higher capacity drives even on eBay. I don't
run a business, my backups are just personal files and images of software
disks used on my various computers. In the past I have used Quic80 Colorado
tapes (120mb), TRAVAN drives (JUNK), CDR's (back when a blank was $8 and the
burner was $1000), and even floppy disks themselves (hell I even used a
utility that formatted 360k 5.25 disks into 800k). I never had a problem
reading anything back from a cdr or tape, a few floppies (1.44mb mostly)
ended up having bitrot but the data could be found on the net or from fellow
collectors (5.25 disks seem more reliable to me). Every so many years I dump
the media back to the HD and archive it on a newer media that has more
storage space while keeping the original media on the shelf just in case,
eventually every tape will go bad or the drives that can read them (along
with software) will be hard to find. Using older technology (My 2 DAT drives
are Just DDS2 4/8GB) limits the amount of data that fits on a tape so even
if 1 tape does go bad its only a small part of the overall collection, plus
you know how reliable the drive brand and tapes are from people who used
that media in critical situations when it was cutting edge. Believe me I
would have a different strategy backing up CAD files that are one of a kind
compared to backing up my copy of Ultima III from my C64, one is
irreplaceable while the other can be downloaded off the NET if needed.
Received on Tue Sep 21 2004 - 03:19:14 BST

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