250 meg tape drives from the floppy controller
Andrew Park
drive to floppy disks and decided to purchase a 250 meg tape drive
(Colorado or Conner). However, I don't intend to buy a dedicated
controller for the drive. I have 2 floppy drives connect to my controller
right now. How do I connect a tape drive to it too? Thanks for you answers.
BTW, what's the consensus on the net? Conner or Colorado? (If there IS a
consensus, that is)
Andrew Park
THE JAGUAR
Hi .
Don't worry about this , all you need is a Y cable , the tape will
connect paralll ( or is it series ) with your floppys .
Jaguar
Robert C. White Jr.
: BTW, what's the consensus on the net? Conner or Colorado? (If there IS a
: consensus, that is)
I have both a Conner and a Colorado. I like the Conner software better,
the OADOS.EXE program, because it writes data to tape, checks it, and then
writes some more. The Colorado writes the whole thing, then rewinds
and checks the data.
--
Robert C. White, Jr. r...@whitestar.com
Denver, Colorado
Allen J Michielsen
>In @agate.berkeley.edu>, apa...@violet.berkeley.edu (Andrew Park) writes...
>>Hi, I have a questions. I got very tired of backing up my 340 meg hard
>>... How do I connect a tape drive to it too? Thanks for you answers.
> Don't worry about this , all you need is a Y cable , the tape will
>connect paralll ( or is it series ) with your floppys .
Like he (?) says, the install kit should come with a y cable and
you should be all set for cabling. _HOWEVER_, NOT all floppy
controllers will work with these (common) tape drives. The dealer (or
the MFG customer service) should be able to provide you with what you
must know, to know if your controller will work. As I recall, there
is a fairly specific set of floppy chip sets for floppy controllers
which are both fairly common, and are essential to have in order to
use these tape drives. This is to warn that not all floppy
controllers can do this, but most/many can.
al
Iskandar Taib
>Andrew Park (apa...@violet.berkeley.edu) wrote:
>
>: BTW, what's the consensus on the net? Conner or Colorado? (If there IS a
>: consensus, that is)
>
>I have both a Conner and a Colorado. I like the Conner software better,
>the OADOS.EXE program, because it writes data to tape, checks it, and then
>writes some more. The Colorado writes the whole thing, then rewinds
>and checks the data.
I'm trying to decide which one to buy at this time. Does the Conner
software allow for incremental/selective backups with multiple backup
sets per tape?
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iskandar Taib | The only thing worse than Peach ala
Internet: NT...@SILVER.UCS.INDIANA.EDU | Frog is Frog ala Peach
Bitnet: NTAIB@IUBACS !
Joe Sabolefski
: I'm trying to decide which one to buy at this time. Does the Conner
: software allow for incremental/selective backups with multiple backup
: sets per tape?
I purchased the Conner drive (good price) and found that the software
didn't work with DR DOS so I returned it. I have since upgraded to
MSDOS but would have returned the drive anyway cause the software
*sucks*, even if it had worked. You basically have 2 backup options:
1. backup ALL files on ALL drives
2. backup ALL changed files on ALL drives since last full backup
That's right, you can't select a subdir to backup, you can't even
limit the backup to a single drive! Eat me.
They do offer to sell you an upgraded software that has more of
the desired features, but you have to call to get a price, then wait
who the fuck knows how long for it to arrive.
I think the Colorado software has similar limitations.
I'm going to spend a few extra bucks on the Summit, as it comes
with Central Point software, which I understand is quite good.
I believe it comes with a Windoze version as well as DOS.
The street price is about $160.
This is not a bad price when you consider what you will spend on, say
5 tapes (about $70-$100).
I'm not planning on buying it soon as I just bought a half gig drive
that will serve as a catastrophe backup for now.
Anybody have any experiences with the Summit??
Joe Sabolefski E-Mail: sa...@netcom.com
--------------------------------------------------------------
Legalize freedom - vote Libertarian!
--
Joe Sabolefski E-Mail: sa...@netcom.com
--------------------------------------------------------------
Legalize freedom - vote Libertarian!
Mark Noyes
: I'm trying to decide which one to buy at this time. Does the Conner
: software allow for incremental/selective backups with multiple backup
: sets per tape?
I purchased the Conner drive (good price) and found that the software
didn't work with DR DOS so I returned it. I have since upgraded to
MSDOS but would have returned the drive anyway cause the software
*sucks*, even if it had worked. You basically have 2 backup options:
1. backup ALL files on ALL drives
2. backup ALL changed files on ALL drives since last full backup
That's right, you can't select a subdir to backup, you can't even
limit the backup to a single drive! Eat me.
They do offer to sell you an upgraded software that has more of
the desired features, but you have to call to get a price, then wait
who the fuck knows how long for it to arrive.
I think the Colorado software has similar limitations.
The Colorado software does NOT have these limitations. You can
selectively choose directories and files to back up and restore.
--
Mark Noyes no...@odi.com
Object Design Inc.
Burlington MA
Darryl Okahata
> That's right, you can't select a subdir to backup, you can't even
> limit the backup to a single drive! Eat me.
[ ... ]
> I think the Colorado software has similar limitations.
No, the CMS software doesn't have these problems. You can backup
selected subdirectories or individual files (or both).
-- Darryl Okahata
Internet: dar...@sr.hp.com
DISCLAIMER: this message is the author's personal opinion and does not
constitute the support, opinion or policy of Hewlett-Packard or of the
little green men that have been following him all day.
Joe Sabolefski
...
stuff deleted
...
: The Colorado software does NOT have these limitations. You can
: selectively choose directories and files to back up and restore.
Thanks for the clarification.
I'd appreciate it if you could answer a few questions on the software:
Does it allow multiple backup sets per tape?
Is there a limit as to how many different subdirs you can specify per backup?
Can you have multiple setups which specify different sets of subdirs?
Can you select dirs from multiple drives for a given backup?
Thanks
Phil Koenig
>: software allow for incremental/selective backups with multiple backup
>: sets per tape?
>
>I purchased the Conner drive (good price) and found that the software
>didn't work with DR DOS so I returned it. I have since upgraded to
>MSDOS but would have returned the drive anyway cause the software
>*sucks*, even if it had worked. You basically have 2 backup options:
>
>1. backup ALL files on ALL drives
>2. backup ALL changed files on ALL drives since last full backup
>
>That's right, you can't select a subdir to backup, you can't even
>limit the backup to a single drive! Eat me.
Yep, as I've said many times before, this software is useless.
>They do offer to sell you an upgraded software that has more of
>the desired features, but you have to call to get a price, then wait
>who the fuck knows how long for it to arrive.
Just another cynical marketing ploy. It's the American way. 1/2 :-)
>I think the Colorado software has similar limitations.
This is not true. The CMS software has supported explicit directory
backup for a LONG time. What it _hasn't_ done until recently is allow
you to *restore* to a specific directory. In other words, if your orig.
directory was C:\apps\spreadsheet, and you told it to restore to C:\temp,
it would put the restored files in "C:\temp\apps\spreadsheet".
The current software not only has an improved interface, it also allows
you to _selectively_ erase, UNerase, restore to explicit directory, and
many other useful things. And the CMS software has always had a very
nice batch implementation which is essential for the clients that I set
up to use it.
I just wish it would run on the Conner drive, which is smaller and
quieter. I heard that the Iomega drive would work with the CMS software,
but I have no confirmation of this.
>I'm going to spend a few extra bucks on the Summit, as it comes
>with Central Point software, which I understand is quite good.
>I believe it comes with a Windoze version as well as DOS.
>The street price is about $160.
I'm not a big fan of CPbackup, but it's a darn sight better than the
worthless stuff that Conner ships with the drive. (FWIW, the drives
are available to resellers with the upgraded software, but most vendors
prefer to advertise the lower price)
Current information indicates, however, that CPbackup is not fully
compatible with the Conner tape drive (unless they've upgraded it). It
typically will NOT FORMAT an unformatted tape, and will not retension
the tape. Central Point admitted this to me, and did not indicate they
had an upgrade in the works. This *severely* limits the usefulness of
this combination unless they have released (or plan on releasing) an
upgrade/bug fix.
>Anybody have any experiences with the Summit??
I would be interested in this question as well.
Phil Koenig
p...@netcom.com
Phil Koenig
>Mark Noyes (no...@odi.com) wrote:
>...
>stuff deleted
>...
>: The Colorado software does NOT have these limitations. You can
>: selectively choose directories and files to back up and restore.
>
>Thanks for the clarification.
>I'd appreciate it if you could answer a few questions on the software:
I think I can answer some of these...
>Does it allow multiple backup sets per tape?
Yes. You can name them and individually password-protect them.
>Is there a limit as to how many different subdirs you can specify per backup?
Not that I know of. It will also use EMS to store file lists if you
have it available.
>Can you have multiple setups which specify different sets of subdirs?
This can be done either from the scheduler, or using a batch file. CMS
software has very complete capabilities for running this from the
command line and specifying directories, files, wildcards, volume names,
error-log names, compression type, verification, etc.
There is also a very nice shareware program on their BBS which automatically
writes batch files for you, based on parameters you select.
>Can you select dirs from multiple drives for a given backup?
I believe this is a new feature, yes. The old versions supported this
through either the scheduler, or batch file/command-line operation.
Phil Koenig
p...@netcom.com
Lenny Jacobs
magazines (I can't remember which one) along with $5.00 and my
original Conner disks. The Conner ad says that they will return
upgraded software which will provide selective backup and restore and
a scheduler. I haven't received the software yet so I can't comment
on it. Perhaps, if you call Conner on their 800 number they can tell
you how to get this software without the coupon.
--
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| <-> lenny <-> <-> <-> <-> <-> <-> <-> lja...@panix.com <-> |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
Joe Sabolefski
: In other words, if your orig.
: directory was C:\apps\spreadsheet, and you told it to restore to C:\temp,
: it would put the restored files in "C:\temp\apps\spreadsheet".
That's not so bad, works like UNIX tar, I could live with that.
: I just wish it would run on the Conner drive, which is smaller and
: quieter. I heard that the Iomega drive would work with the CMS software,
I know that the Conner drive will mount in a 3 1/2" slot, so I assume that
the Colorado requires a 5 1/4" slot. Well, it would be nice if I could put
it in my remaining 3 1/2" slot as there are not to many other peripherals
that have that form factor. Oh well, life's not perfect.
: Current information indicates, however, that CPbackup is not fully
: compatible with the Conner tape drive (unless they've upgraded it). It
: typically will NOT FORMAT an unformatted tape, and will not retension
: the tape. Central Point admitted this to me, and did not indicate they
Well that sucks, so much for buying the Summit drive. BTW, it *looks* like
this drive will fit into a 3 1/2" slot.
: >Can you have multiple setups which specify different sets of subdirs?
: This can be done either from the scheduler, or using a batch file. CMS
: software has very complete capabilities for running this from the
: command line and specifying directories, files, wildcards, volume names,
: error-log names, compression type, verification, etc.
: There is also a very nice shareware program on their BBS which automatically
: writes batch files for you, based on parameters you select.
Well what else could you ask for? I'm sold on the Colorado. If the other
drives are smaller and quieter but the software sucks, it doesn't matter.
I just want to set up a backup strategy once, then run the batch files
(or setup scripts) and walk away. If the software makes you go through
menus and pick your files everytime you backup, then I'm not gonna do it
that often.
Phil, thanks for providing this detailed info regarding tape drives.
FYI the street price of the Colorado and Summit drives are around $160.
The Conner can be found for around $140, but comes with a tape which is
worth $15-$20.
Beware of Hi-Tech in Milpitas Ca, they advertise the Conner for $118 but
when you go to pick the drive up you'll find that the bastards cut out
the labels from the box which say "now includes free tape". When I called
them on it, the guy said "well, that's how we can offer it at that price".
This brings the price of the drive up to the same level as scrupulous
dealers. Normally I would have told them to shove it and went elsewhere,
but I was in a hurry so I bought it. Now to top it off, when I went to
return it, the dicks charge a 15% restocking fee! ( you only find out
about the restocking fee if you read the sheet of fine print that they
give you when you pay for your order).
Avoid Hi-Tech, their prices aren't *that* much better than dealers which
at least have *some* morals.
Iskandar Taib
backup software and back up a few tapes. Later I buy Norton Backup or
Central Point's software. Will the new software work with the old
tapes? Will it be able to restore the older backup sets? We're talking
about compressed QIC-80 tapes.. is there a standard beyond the tape
formatting?
Iskandar Taib
>Phil Koenig (p...@netcom.com) wrote:
>: In other words, if your orig.
>: directory was C:\apps\spreadsheet, and you told it to restore to C:\temp,
>: it would put the restored files in "C:\temp\apps\spreadsheet".
>That's not so bad, works like UNIX tar, I could live with that.
The real problem with tar is that you can't have more than one backup
set per tape (since we have Exabyte 8mm drives on our Suns just a tiny
amount of the tape gets used!) but thats another story altogether 8-)
>I know that the Conner drive will mount in a 3 1/2" slot, so I assume that
>the Colorado requires a 5 1/4" slot. Well, it would be nice if I could put
>it in my remaining 3 1/2" slot as there are not to many other peripherals
>that have that form factor. Oh well, life's not perfect.
The Conner goes into a 3 1/2" x 1" slot, I suspect the Colorado would
need a half height slot but is still 3 1/2".
>FYI the street price of the Colorado and Summit drives are around $160.
>The Conner can be found for around $140, but comes with a tape which is
>worth $15-$20.
Hmm.. the best deal I've found so far is the HDI (Insight) package
deal with Western Digital hard drives. I guess one could always sell
the hard drive to someone else.. The tape drive is a "Talon" but a
little poking around and they will tell you its really a Colorado
Jumbo 250 and includes Colorado's software.
MEI sells the same drive _with_ Norton's Backup for Windows for $165,
but no free tapes 8-( I ordered one yesterday but am calling them
tomorrow to cancel.
Greg Sowder
PK>Current information indicates, however, that CPbackup is not fully
PK>compatible with the Conner tape drive (unless they've upgraded it).
PK>It typically will NOT FORMAT an unformatted tape, and will not
PK>retension the tape. Central Point admitted this to me, and did not
PK>indicate they had an upgrade in the works. This *severely* limits
PK>the usefulness of this combination unless they have released (or plan
PK>on releasing) an upgrade/bug fix.
FaxBack Document #31000 SUPPORTED TAPE DRIVES
TAPE DRIVES SUPPORTED BY CP BACKUP
========================================================================
===
QIC-40/80 & SERVO-WRITE FDC TAPE DRIVES SUPPORTED:
Archive QIC-40/80 drives: XL Model 5580i & 5580e models; 5540i
& 5540e models, produced after 11/91. These have a 1"
wide eject button. SuperHornet 9250i workswith
preformatted
tapes. (It does not support a format command from CP
Backup
V8, but does work with the format command in a special
version 7.22, 1/28/93 files, and in PCTW CP Backup V2,
3/12/93 files)
Connor Per Connor Sales and Tech Support (10/93), this drive is
the same as the Archive SuperHornet. ALL versions of
CP Backup for DOS and Windows will work with the drive
when
using PREFORMATTED tapes. To be able to format tapes in
the
drive, it is necessary to have CP Backup for Windows
with
files dated 3/12/93 or later, or CP Backup for DOS with
files dated 1/28/93 or later. The 3 models of this
drive
are all the same drive but come bundled with different
items: C250 MQ Drive with basic software
C250 MQT Drive with basic software & a tape
C250 MQT Plus Drive with advanced software & a
tape
NOTE: We do NOT support the parallel port versions of
these
drives.
---
. CmpQwk #UNREG. UNREGISTERED EVALUATION COPY
Gary Breuckman
>Here is another question. Suppose I start out with Colorado's tape
>backup software and back up a few tapes. Later I buy Norton Backup or
>Central Point's software. Will the new software work with the old
>tapes? Will it be able to restore the older backup sets? We're talking
>about compressed QIC-80 tapes.. is there a standard beyond the tape
>formatting?
I've read tapes from Norton's desktop backup 2 and from Colorado's 4.01
dos backup and Trakker program 4.01, back and forth, as a test. I just
received Norton's desktop v3, and haven't run tests between them again,
however v3 has more compression than v2 did, and I'm sure that's where
any potential problem would be. I would expect that new versions of the
same program (Norton 3 from Norton 2) should be able to restore old tapes,
but others may not be guaranteed. If you keep old tapes, I would keep
the old programs around too, at least as long as you retain the tapes.
--
---
pu...@netcom.com
Alvis Harding Jr.
>In article <saboCHK...@netcom.com>, Joe Sabolefski <sa...@netcom.com> wrote:
>>Phil Koenig (p...@netcom.com) wrote:
>>: In other words, if your orig.
>>: directory was C:\apps\spreadsheet, and you told it to restore to C:\temp,
>>: it would put the restored files in "C:\temp\apps\spreadsheet".
>
>>That's not so bad, works like UNIX tar, I could live with that.
>
>The real problem with tar is that you can't have more than one backup
>set per tape (since we have Exabyte 8mm drives on our Suns just a tiny
>amount of the tape gets used!) but thats another story altogether 8-)
..stuff deleted..
This is getting off the subject but why can't you use the no-rewind device
and 'mt' to position the tape?
e.g.
mt -f /dev/nrstX eom # go to end of tape (logical, not physical)
tar cvf /dev/nrstX file-list # append tar file to end of tape
--
--- ---
---- ----
----- -----
Alvis Harding Jr. Arkansas Children's Hospital
a...@george.ach.uams.edu Cardiac Imaging Center
"The nice thing about so many standards is that you can choose the one you
want"
Phil Koenig
>Here is another question. Suppose I start out with Colorado's tape
>backup software and back up a few tapes. Later I buy Norton Backup or
>Central Point's software. Will the new software work with the old
>tapes? Will it be able to restore the older backup sets? We're talking
>about compressed QIC-80 tapes.. is there a standard beyond the tape
>formatting?
>
As I have mentioned here several times, the compression format used in
"QIC-80" tape drives appears to be proprietary. While Central Point
Backup seems like it will restore CMS-formatted compressed tapes, it takes
so long I haven't had the patience to see it to completion yet. The tape
drive has to read EVERY BLOCK ON THE TAPE first, to "rebuild compression
tables" or somesuch, before it even *starts* trying to do the restore.
I've had quite a bit of trouble finding software that works satisfactorily
with the Conner QIC-80 drive, and supports the CMS tape format. Another
problem in addition to the compression problem is that the volume names
given on the CMS-formatted tapes are truncated.
If anyone has more detailed technical information, I'd be very interested.
Phil Koenig
p...@netcom.com
Phil Koenig
Hmm, am I hearing you as saying that all the above programs restored tapes
from the other with no problems or anomalies whatsoever? This would seem
to indicate that that the Norton backup software is more compatible with
the CMS format than either Central Point Backup or the Conner software.
Might want to try it. Thanks for the info.
Phil Koenig
p...@netcom.com
Phil Koenig
>In article <saboCHK...@netcom.com>, Joe Sabolefski <sa...@netcom.com> wrote:
>>Phil Koenig (p...@netcom.com) wrote:
>>: In other words, if your orig.
>>: directory was C:\apps\spreadsheet, and you told it to restore to C:\temp,
>>: it would put the restored files in "C:\temp\apps\spreadsheet".
>
>>That's not so bad, works like UNIX tar, I could live with that.
Perhaps if it's for home use, some wouldn't mind. On the other hand, if
you run a business, this is unacceptable. It is simply ridiculous to
expect someone to have twice as much space on the drive as needed for the
restored data... unless you have a "move" utility that you trust implicitly.
>>I know that the Conner drive will mount in a 3 1/2" slot, so I assume that
>>the Colorado requires a 5 1/4" slot. Well, it would be nice if I could put
>>it in my remaining 3 1/2" slot as there are not to many other peripherals
>>that have that form factor. Oh well, life's not perfect.
>
>The Conner goes into a 3 1/2" x 1" slot, I suspect the Colorado would
>need a half height slot but is still 3 1/2".
The Colorado Jumbo series require a 5.25" half-height drive bay. Even if
it was only 3.5", I've never in my life seen an external half-height
3.5" drive opening, so the point would be moot.
Phil Koenig
p...@netcom.com
Phil Koenig
>PK>Current information indicates, however, that CPbackup is not fully
>PK>compatible with the Conner tape drive (unless they've upgraded it).
>PK>It typically will NOT FORMAT an unformatted tape, and will not
>PK>retension the tape. Central Point admitted this to me, and did not
>PK>indicate they had an upgrade in the works. This *severely* limits
>PK>the usefulness of this combination unless they have released (or plan
>PK>on releasing) an upgrade/bug fix.
>
[I cleaned up the following text as apparently the persons ASCII upload
didn't format correctly]
>FaxBack Document #31000 SUPPORTED TAPE DRIVES
>
>TAPE DRIVES SUPPORTED BY CP BACKUP
>========================================================================
>
>QIC-40/80 & SERVO-WRITE FDC TAPE DRIVES SUPPORTED:
>
>Archive
>QIC-40/80 drives: XL Model 5580i & 5580e models; 5540i
>& 5540e models, produced after 11/91. These have a 1"
>wide eject button. SuperHornet 9250i workswith
>preformatted tapes. (It does not support a format command from CP
>Backup V8, but does work with the format command in a special
>version 7.22, 1/28/93 files, and in PCTW CP Backup V2,
>3/12/93 files)
>
>Connor
>Per Connor Sales and Tech Support (10/93), this drive is
>the same as the Archive SuperHornet. ALL versions of
>CP Backup for DOS and Windows will work with the drive
>when using PREFORMATTED tapes. To be able to format tapes in
>the drive, it is necessary to have CP Backup for Windows
>with files dated 3/12/93 or later, or CP Backup for DOS with
>files dated 1/28/93 or later. The 3 models of this
>drive are all the same drive but come bundled with different
>items:
>C250 MQ Drive with basic software
>C250 MQT Drive with basic software & a tape
>C250 MQT Plus Drive with advanced software & a tape
>NOTE: We do NOT support the parallel port versions of
>these drives.
Thanks for this information. According to someone in a different newsgroup
(comp.sys.ibm.pc.storage, I believe), the latest version of PCtools "Pro",
or version 9, DOES correctly support the Conner nee Archive "Hornet" drives.
Phil Koenig
p...@netcom.com
Phil Koenig
>Phil Koenig (p...@netcom.com) wrote:
>: In other words, if your orig.
>: directory was C:\apps\spreadsheet, and you told it to restore to C:\temp,
>: it would put the restored files in "C:\temp\apps\spreadsheet".
>
>That's not so bad, works like UNIX tar, I could live with that.
I don't think this is always acceptable.. see my response to a quote of
this msg. in ~ibm.pc.storage.
>: Current information indicates, however, that CPbackup is not fully
>: compatible with the Conner tape drive (unless they've upgraded it). It
>: typically will NOT FORMAT an unformatted tape, and will not retension
>: the tape. Central Point admitted this to me, and did not indicate they
>
>Well that sucks, so much for buying the Summit drive. BTW, it *looks* like
>this drive will fit into a 3 1/2" slot.
I don't think I was referring to the Summit drive in my msg. above. The
incompatibility was between CPbackup and the Conner drive. BTW, apparently
the latest version of PC tools (v9 or "Pro") supports the Conner nee
Archive tape drive correctly.
>: >Can you have multiple setups which specify different sets of subdirs?
>
>: This can be done either from the scheduler, or using a batch file. CMS
>: software has very complete capabilities for running this from the
>: command line and specifying directories, files, wildcards, volume names,
>: error-log names, compression type, verification, etc.
>
>: There is also a very nice shareware program on their BBS which automatically
>: writes batch files for you, based on parameters you select.
>
>Well what else could you ask for? I'm sold on the Colorado. If the other
>drives are smaller and quieter but the software sucks, it doesn't matter.
>I just want to set up a backup strategy once, then run the batch files
>(or setup scripts) and walk away. If the software makes you go through
>menus and pick your files everytime you backup, then I'm not gonna do it
>that often.
>
>Phil, thanks for providing this detailed info regarding tape drives.
You're welcome. I agree re: the software problem. Still looking for a tape
drive that is smaller/quieter than the Colorado, but runs their s/w.
Alternatively, a software that works with the Conner-type drive, and
correctly supports CMS-formatted tapes w/compression, and doesn't truncate
the volume names. Rumor has it that the Norton product, at least the one
that comes with Norton Desktop for Windows, may do this. (according to
another poster)
Phil Koenig
p...@netcom.com
John Stafford
| nt...@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Iskandar Taib) writes:
| >Here is another question. Suppose I start out with Colorado's tape
| >backup software and back up a few tapes. Later I buy Norton Backup or
| >Central Point's software. Will the new software work with the old
| >tapes? Will it be able to restore the older backup sets? We're talking
| >about compressed QIC-80 tapes.. is there a standard beyond the tape
| >formatting?
I think Irwin/Conner may be an exception (whichever one has the
"special" formatting), but in general the only "semi-standard" (per the
Central Point docs if I remember correctly) is if you store the data
uncompressed other software may be able to read it. Once you use one of
the "proprietary" compression methods, you are currently stuck with that
software.
Richard Bumby
>Here is another question. Suppose I start out with Colorado's tape
>backup software and back up a few tapes. Later I buy Norton Backup or
>Central Point's software. Will the new software work with the old
>tapes? Will it be able to restore the older backup sets? We're talking
>about compressed QIC-80 tapes.. is there a standard beyond the tape
>formatting?
I have some information on this, though not really any answers. Maybe
someone out there knows more and can fill in the gaps in what I know.
I have the Irwin Accutrak 250, which appears to have been renamed
Conner. In testing the software, I made backups with the EZTape
software that came with the drive and with CPbackup that was already
in use on the computer for making backups to floppies.
Each backup program thinks that tapes written by the other are empty.
I moved to the new version of CPbackup (v.2 for Windows). This allows
me to format tapes, but standard format for DC2120 seems to be
unavailable. Also the servo-writing that is required for this tape
drive is very sensitive. Two of seven (five tapes) format attempts failed,
requiring the tapes to be bulk-erased before proceeding.
With software packages increasing in size, it would be nice to use
tape to port the software, but if things are not portable for
different tape drives or different backup programs, this option is not
available. CD-ROM seems to be moving into this role. This smells
like a commercial decision.
--
R. T. Bumby ** Rutgers Math || Amer. Math. Monthly Problems Editor
bu...@math.rutgers.edu || P.O. Box 10971 New Brunswick, NJ08906-0971
bu...@dimacs.rutgers.edu || Phone: [USA] 908 932 0277 * FAX 908 932 5530
Greg Sowder
JS>: Current information indicates, however, that CPbackup is not fully
JS>: compatible with the Conner tape drive (unless they've upgraded it).
JS>: It typically will NOT FORMAT an unformatted tape, and will not
JS>: tretension he tape. Central Point admitted this to me, and did
JS>not indicate they
JS>Well that sucks, so much for buying the Summit drive. BTW, it *looks*
JS>like this drive will fit into a 3 1/2" slot.
I was able to format a tape on a Conner with Central Point's Pctools for
windows by disableing the external cache.
Elizabeth Schwartz
has two 3.5" floppy ports, you can put the Jumbo there and get a
combination 3.5" and 5.25" drive that fits into a 5.25" bay.
Me, I left it in the 5.25" bay and got a bigger case.
--
System Administrator Internet: bet...@cs.umb.edu
MACS Dept, UMass/Boston Phone : 617-287-6448
100 Morrissey Blvd Staccato signals
Boston, MA 02125-3393 of constant information....
R.C. Kleyngeld - beg Spruit
I have a internal 250 MB conner tapedrive which is attached to my
floppy controller. I use Cpbackup v8.0 and everything works fine.
I'm interested in more technical information how such tapedrives works,
thus how to identify such a tapedrive, which functions are available,
and so on. Ik have search for information about these topics but I can't
find any.
So answer to E-Mail,
Thanks in advance for any comments and reactions
Raymond
---
+--------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| Raymond Kleijngeld | Delft University of Technology |
+--------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| R.C.Kl...@IS.TWI.Tudelft.NL |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
W. Lee
Hmm.... I'm using Pctools version 9 myself, and I have a Archive "Hornet" drive,
but I still have the same problem as with version 8. I still can't format any
tapes.. (not even if they were already formatted before..) Things go wrong with
the certifying part...
I'm also having problems with restoring tapes that were backup with my drive..
while restoring tapes that were backuped with a Colorado gives no problem at
all.
Any suggestions ???
Perry Egelmeers
>In <pjkCHo...@netcom.com> p...@netcom.com writes:
>> In article <38889.5...@cccbbs.UUCP> greg....@cccbbs.UUCP (Greg Sowder) writes:
>>
>> >PK>Current information indicates, however, that CPbackup is not fully
>> >PK>compatible with the Conner tape drive (unless they've upgraded it).
>> >PK>It typically will NOT FORMAT an unformatted tape, and will not
>> >PK>retension the tape. Central Point admitted this to me, and did not
>> >PK>indicate they had an upgrade in the works. This *severely* limits
>> >PK>the usefulness of this combination unless they have released (or plan
>> >PK>on releasing) an upgrade/bug fix.
>> >
[stuff deleted]
>> >Connor
>> >Per Connor Sales and Tech Support (10/93), this drive is
>> >the same as the Archive SuperHornet. ALL versions of
>> >CP Backup for DOS and Windows will work with the drive
>> >when using PREFORMATTED tapes. To be able to format tapes in
>> >the drive, it is necessary to have CP Backup for Windows
>> >with files dated 3/12/93 or later, or CP Backup for DOS with
>> >files dated 1/28/93 or later. The 3 models of this
>> >drive are all the same drive but come bundled with different
>> >items:
>> >C250 MQ Drive with basic software
>> >C250 MQT Drive with basic software & a tape
>> >C250 MQT Plus Drive with advanced software & a tape
>> >NOTE: We do NOT support the parallel port versions of
>> >these drives.
>> Thanks for this information. According to someone in a different newsgroup
>> (comp.sys.ibm.pc.storage, I believe), the latest version of PCtools "Pro",
>> or version 9, DOES correctly support the Conner nee Archive "Hornet" drives.
>Hmm.... I'm using Pctools version 9 myself, and I have a Archive "Hornet" drive,
>but I still have the same problem as with version 8. I still can't format any
>tapes.. (not even if they were already formatted before..) Things go wrong with
>the certifying part...
>I'm also having problems with restoring tapes that were backup with my drive..
>while restoring tapes that were backuped with a Colorado gives no problem at
>all.
>Any suggestions ???
The old versions (PCtools) where just fine, it seems to me that the new
versions (CP xxxxxxx) are a warning: "Pre-beta release" or something like
Corrupted Prototype or isn't the CP software not meant for a PC? Does
anybody know a CP computer? :-))))
The best thing is to do for CMS Jumbo tape drive owners is to write their
own interface which talks to the CMS tape software by using the commandline.
Still leaves us, Archive/Maynard/Conner tape drive users, with the $*#!&^$*&
CPB V100.43432
I know this won't help :-)
Perry Egelmeers