topic Re: Backup Problems, I need a solution BAD!! in Installation & update

Backup Problems, I need a solution BAD!!

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 13:27:49 GMT

We turned our standalone server into a true server a few months ago by installing OS 10.3 Server software on it. Since then the tape drive that we have will not show up. We bought Retrospect 6.0 Workgroup software for the Mac. I tried buying two different SCSI Cards from Adaptec. Neither of those fixed the problem. The tape drive is a bit old, but I don't see why we couldn't make this work. The tape drive is a Sony DDS SDT-S9000. I have tried calling SONY, Adaptec, and Retrospect and I have gotten no where. Does anybody have any suggestions on what might work. I have been trying to find a cheap firewire tape drive so I wouldn't have to bother with trying to find a compatible SCSI card but I haven't had much luck. If we have to buy a new tape drive, it needs to be something cheaper than $500. What other options are there for backing up automatically. The folder that we need to back up is about 5-10gb but we would like to accomadate expansion up to 30gb for the future if possible. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We have not backed up in months and it is a little scary.

Re: Backup Problems, I need a solution BAD!!

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 14:45:19 GMT

See if there is an updated driver for your tape drive. We had this issue with updating to OSX.

Re: Backup Problems, I need a solution BAD!!

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 15:18:39 GMT

Thanks for your reply. But there is not an updated driver for the tape drive. Basically I was wondering if anyone can tell me what tape drives they are using and how they are connected to there computer (eg. SCSI, USB, Firewire). Also it has to be OS 10.3 and Retrospect 6.0 compatible.

Re: Backup Problems, I need a solution BAD!!

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 16:50:43 GMT

mikeadams wrote:
Thanks for your reply. But there is not an updated driver for the tape drive. Basically I was wondering if anyone can tell me what tape drives they are using and how they are connected to there computer (eg. SCSI, USB, Firewire). Also it has to be OS 10.3 and Retrospect 6.0 compatible.

When I get back to the office I'll let you know. We have a 40GB tape drive that is connected to a SCSI port. It was the SCSI card that needed a updated driver. We are running 10.3 server software and Retrospect. Works very well, but we have had to search for backup files only a few times. (Never really are sure that the backup is working until you try to restore a file!)

Re: Backup Problems, I need a solution BAD!!

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 18:32:40 GMT

Our tape drive is a Lacie SDT-11000 that uses 4mm tapes, connected with a SCSI cable.

Re: Backup Problems, I need a solution BAD!!

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 18:44:21 GMT

Do you know what the capacity of the tapes are. And what SCSI Card you are using. Also, I did a search for that tape drive and only Sony has a tape drive that is SDT-11000. Are you sure on the name. Do you have a link that I could look at for that model.

Re: Backup Problems, I need a solution BAD!!

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 20:09:33 GMT

mikeadams wrote:
Do you know what the capacity of the tapes are. And what SCSI Card you are using. Also, I did a search for that tape drive and only Sony has a tape drive that is SDT-11000. Are you sure on the name. Do you have a link that I could look at for that model.

The Sony tape drive is the same drive as the Lacie. Sony is what shows up in the Apple profiler. The SCSI card is an old Adaptec card. The profiler shows a #29160. The tapes are rated at 40GB and I believe this is before any compression.

Re: Backup Problems, I need a solution BAD!!

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 00:45:30 GMT

I recommend tossing the tape drive and buying two external hard drives. What we do here is back up to one every night (mirror backup) and swap the two drives every week so there is an off-site backup no more than one week old.

We are also running an archival backup to CD. As each CD fills up it is taken off-site. This way we have a copy of everything we've ever done just in case.

I have seen so many problems in different firms with tape back-ups that I consider them a waste of time and money.

Re: Backup Problems, I need a solution BAD!!

aahatimo — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 00:55:02 GMT

for a different option, there is a company (located here in durango) global data vault that does online backup.
http://globaldatavault.com/

Re: Backup Problems, I need a solution BAD!!

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 01:21:29 GMT

aahatimo wrote:
for a different option, there is a company (located here in durango) global data vault that does online backup.
http://globaldatavault.com/

This is usually too expensive and too slow for gigabytes of CAD files.

Re: Backup Problems, I need a solution BAD!!

Dave Jochum — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 02:36:21 GMT

I agree with Matthew's suggestion to toss the tape drive. Hard drives have gotten so cheap that tape is all but dead. For firewire capable setups especially, look at OWC (Other World Computing -- macsales.com).

Re: Backup Problems, I need a solution BAD!!

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 13:03:17 GMT

Any certain brand or model that you would recommend. You do this with Retrospect?

Re: Backup Problems, I need a solution BAD!!

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 15:03:50 GMT

Thanks to all that replied and helped me with this issue. I have been struggling to make this old tape drive work for months. I decided to purchase two Acomdata 120GB 7200rpm External FireWire Hard Drives. They were only $139 a piece at macmall.com. And Retrospect's website said that they were qualified to work with their software. Thanks again guys, this message board has helped me for so many different things. Most not even ArchiCAD related. Thank You!!!

Re: Backup Problems, I need a solution BAD!!

Thomas Holm — Tue, 02 Mar 2004 18:43:01 GMT

I agree with Matthew. We also use two external hard disks alternately.

For making the backups, we use LaCie's free backup program Silverkeeper. Efficient, fast, lets you schedule backups and keep different pre-configured backup sets. Has been working flawlessly for more than two years here, and is compatible with the latest Panther release (10.3.2). We see no need to pay for Retrospect.

Go to http://www.lacie.com/silverkeeper/

Alas, it's not compatible with tape drives.

Regards,

Thomas