Hi, Alan.

On Tue, 14 Oct 1997 13:47:38 EDT, Alan Wilson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
|     How much is too much for dds tapes? I currretly have 44 gig of disk
|     and see that growing to 70 gig in the next year. I have two dds tape
|     drives and use 90mm tapes. I use Roadrunner for backups and use the
|     RR compression. Backups are running longer and longer. What should
|     I be looking at in the way of hardware (tape drives) to handle the
|     growing volume.

For once, I agree with Denys (of Hiback) and Paul (of Orbit) on a
recommendation for a backup solution!  (Who would have guessed it? ;)

/plug on, if needed? ;)
DLT is definitely the way to go when you've outgrown DDS.  With the
appropriate patches from HP to support DLT4000 drives (available now for
MPE/iX 5.0 and 5.5), RoadRunner can really shine in its efficiency at
moving data from disk to tape.  RR has been tested with HP, Andataco and
ODI (Overland Data) versions of DLT drives and works very well with them.
They all seem to be well engineered devices, but I was most impressed with
the ODI units, both in their flexibility and scalability and especially in
the quality of the design.  (The drives look to me to have that almost
over-engineered robust quality that I'm used to HP hardware having.)

The performance gain is impresive, but it's important that the I/O system
have the bandwidth to keep the drives moving.  Tests done where the DLT
drive shared a SCSI bus with disc drives or other active devices indicate
a substantial decrease in throughput compared to having the DLT on its own
SCSI adapter.  So, you may want to consider buying another SCSI adapter
when you buy the DLT drive, depending on your configuration.

If you have additional questions, please don't hesitate to give our support
folks a call at 512-478-0611, or via the net at http://www.unison.com or
email to [log in to unmask]
--
Jeff Woods
[log in to unmask] at Unison Software
[log in to unmask]   at home  [PGP key available here via finger]

 My candle burns at both ends;
 It will not last the night;
 But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -
 It gives a lovely light.
      --  Edna St. Vincent Millay