Mail Archives: opendos/1997/09/25/03:47:24
>Hi!
>>> You hear about Arvid? This is interface card, which allow backup
to
>>> VCR. This is widely used among us - one video cassette allow
backup
>>> up to 4Gb. And this is very reliable and not so slow.
>>> Hi ! Can you tell me something else about Arvid, what OS do you
>>> experienced with it ? do they have a url ? Thank you. This could
be
>>> very interesting.
> Look at http://www.arvid.com
>>> But fast, _big_ and portable. ;) Only disk unit and two wire - no
>>> more. The tape units I know of are small and portable, only two
>>> wires (one to the power supply
> ...to external power outlet? :)
>> I know a guy name of Arvid <g>. I've heard of those interfaces,
but
>> as far
>> as I can find they can't be got anymore in Britain. Do you know if
>> they are still available? Would I have to go to Russia to buy one?
>> (Not that I have any objection to going to Russia, I just don't
have
>> time - I'd like to visit some time...)
Try the Danmere Backer.. see below.
> You can this buy in Russia. I don't sell this, so I don't know, if
you
> can buy this somewhere else. :)
In the UK you can buy Danmere Backer. This does the same thing, and
also offers 4GB per tape and high speed backup.
Perhaps this is the same drive under a different name?
The cost is ~40 pounds.
I might have tried this, but I have no portable VHS deck.
Also, how sturdy is the data on the tape? What happens if the sync
track gets knocked over.. how many GB do I lose?
Another thing is that with QIC tape units, the PC controls the tape
deck. With Backer, presumably _you_ press play, stop etc.
What happens if you need to retrieve a file from the end of the tape?
Can you just skip to the approximate place or must you start at the
end
and get your file back 240 minutes later? :-)
I went for ZIP drives in the end.. I found my backups are quite
volatile
(ie whole directory trees need updating). This is hard to do with
tape
but easy with disks.
I'd be quite interested to know if they are actually reliable, as the
ZIP disks are fairly low capacity, and a bulk archiver might still
be useful...
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