Multi-Drive FW Bridge & DVD R w/ Retrospect?

[trag]

My hard drives have outgrown my tape system for my home computers. None of the choices I can afford are ideal. One idea I'm considering is to build an external enclosure (or two) with up to 8 DVDR drives and connect it to the host Mac via Firewire.

 

I would like to use this bridge 4 Drive Bridge which is model number FWB2IDE02AS (not sure about the manufacturer) and is based on the Initio 2430. I would need two of them, but that's simple enough with Firewire.

 

1) Will Retrospect 6.1 see four ATAPI DVDR drives connected to that bridge?

 

My idea is to give Retrospect enough media to cycle through, that it can stay busy while I'm at work or asleep, until I return to change the filled media. If I must sit in front of the computer and swap media, or return every 30 minutes to swap media, my backups won't get done.

 

I would have complete control of which DVDR drive I put in the enclosures but I was thinking along the lines of the Pioneer DVR-112D. I've seen it at affordable prices. I have one which has worked very well for me under Toast and I've seen a few comments from folks in the forums who say it worked for them, but I'm willing to change my mind to a different DVDR.

 

2) Is there a favorite affordable DVDR mechanism? Is there one which is particularly compatible with FW bridges?

 

My other choice for backup is one or more DAT DDS4 (20/40 GB) HP autoloaders. They're more or less affordable on Ebay now. However, even if I am lucky enough to buy media at $2 per 20 GB tape, that is still twice as expensive as $.20 per 4 GB disk. On the other hand, the tapes would take up less space.

 

Backup speed is also an issue. I'm currently using DAT DDS3. I read some figures which indicate that DDS4 drives are about 3 times as fast as DDS3 and that DDS4 is about the same speed as DAT72. The Retrospect manual indicates that DAT72 backs up about 150 MB/min.

 

3) Is DDS4 about the same speed as DAT72?

 

4) How fast is DVD backup with Retrospect? Toast writes a single layer DVD on my DVR-112D in about 20 - 30 minutes, which should translate to about 133 MB/s or slightly slower than the Retrospect manual states for DAT72--which I hope is also the speed for DDS4.

 

Another reason (besides media cost) for leaning toward DVD instead of DDS4 is that the Retrospect 6.1 manual states that autoloader support is only available in Retrospect Workgroup and Server. My version is Desktop, although I suppose I could buy a copy of Workgroup.

 

5) Is it true that I would need the Workgroup version in order to use a DAT autoloader? With all the driver updates, I'm not 100% confident that that part of the manual is up to date.

 

Thank you for any helpful or humorous comments,

 

Jeff Walther

[rhwalker]

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My hard drives have outgrown my tape system for my home computers. None of the choices I can afford are ideal. One idea I'm considering is to build an external enclosure (or two) with up to 8 DVDR drives and connect it to the host Mac via Firewire.

 

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You might want to consider the Exabyte VXA-2 or VXA-172 or VXA-320 1x10 1u PacketLoader. (1 rack unit for drive and autoloader with 10 tape slots). It's really not that expensive compared to what you are proposing, and an autoloader with barcode reader will change your life. Really. Does all of the alternating between backup sets, changes tapes, etc. Poke about on the online stores (PC Connection, etc.) for street prices, which are much cheaper than Exabyte's prices.

 

We have the SCSI version for our Xserve, but they also have a Firewire version. The VXA-2 is the older (past-generation) technology that gets 160 GB compressed (really, real-world capacity we are seeing is about 110 to 115 GB compressed with our data on an X-23 tape). Physically and electrically, the VXA-172 and VXA-320 are the same, only difference is a field-upgradable / purchasable firmware license that uncripples the VXA-172 (which has VXA-2 compression capacity) to give the double capacity of VXA-3 (a/k/a VXA-320), almost doubling your tape capacity. The VXA-320 cost difference over VXA-2 pays for itself in tape costs in a couple of autoloader fills.

 

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5) Is it true that I would need the Workgroup version in order to use a DAT autoloader? With all the driver updates, I'm not 100% confident that that part of the manual is up to date.

 

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Seems so. The product feature chart is here:

http://www.emcinsignia.com/products/smb/retroformac/comparison/

 

I think, from the data sheet blurbs that EMC released at Macworld Expo, that Retrospect X will have a similar pricing scheme to the Windows version, with one product and purchasable "add-on" modules such as advanced tape support, rather than separate products as it is now. The only difference in the present product between versions is the license code that you get to enable different features.

 

Russ

[dasystem]

Since the VXA drive was marketed as 320gb... I faithfully assumed it would hold close 320gb of compressed data. I have 11 X23 tapes that all have maxed out at 160gb. So i called Tandberg Data. They finally returned my call and assured me that I would never achieve a 320 gb back up as advertised, he actually laughed and agreed that the marketing was false. He claims I am only getting half the capacity (160gb) because I have photoshop files and video files, and to get the full compression (320gb) it would have to be completely text files. Why was this not stated on their websites or literature? Unless your Steven King, this is highly unlikely. My company has sunk over two thousand dollars between the VXA 320 drive, scsi adapter and backup tapes that are only half full when maxed out, how can we be compensated for this false advertising? It is embossed on the machine itself "VXA 320", it should say "VXA 160, unless you have text only files". When you pay for an 8" sub you dont walk out with a 4" sub.

 

[rhwalker]

dasystem, what is the purpose of posting this same rant six times in the Retrospect forums? You didn't do your homework.

dasystem rant