Backup Problems, I need a solution BAD!!

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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!)

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[aahatimo]

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

[Anonymous]

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.