Jim said....
> Hi everyone,
>
> I have a really lame question about a procedure in the company that I
started
> working for just recently and no one know why we do it this way but no
one
> has tried to do it another way either just because they are afraid of
what
> may?? happen.


I'm going to digress before I get to the answer (so what else is new).

I heard a story where a young mother would cut the end off of a pot roast
before placing it in the pot.  When asked why, she responded "my mother
did it that way."  Her mother was asked the same question and she
responded "my mother did it that way."  Finally, someone asked the Grand
Mother and she responded "BECAUSE I DID'NT HAVE A BIG ENOUGH POT."


>
> Anyway here it is in a nutshell:
>
> Every week we do a "full" backup of our system (i.e. @[log in to unmask]@) which is
fine and
> dandy. But they/I use 3600' reel to reel tapes at 6250 cpi. It takes apx
4.5
> hours and uses 16-18 tapes on average depending on what time of the year
it
> is.
>
> Whereas every night besides the one night we do the full backup we/I do
an
> incremantal backup of only the things that got changed since the last
"full"
> backup. For this we use a 4mm 90m 2gig dds dat tape and it takes about 3
> hours to finish and only uses 1 dat tape no matter what time of the year
it
> is.

A few years ago we converted from reel tapes to DAT tapes.  At that time,
our full backup on our largest system took 27 tapes (I think).  The last
time I did a calculation, it would take 45 reel tapes instead of the 5 DAT
tapes.

There is no reason not to use the DAT tapes.

>
> So the obvious question is :
>
> Why the HELL don't they use 2 dat's or 3 dat's or whatever it takes to
do the
> full backup(s)??

Maybe at one time, a backup site only used reel tapes and did not have
DATs?

>
> Is there some type of problem with the store command or the MPE version
that
> won't support 2 or more dat's in sucession on a store or are they just
giving
> me a line of bullshit and want me to suffer.

It is so bizzare that someone would say that they have to do it that way,
but on the other hand one quarter of the pot roast always went to waste.

>
> Just think of all the space that this would save in our storage room and
> offsite storage space.
>
You got that right!  I can store five DAT tapes on my desk and hardly no
it with all the other clutter.  If I had the 45 reel tapes on my desk, I
wouldn't have any space for any of the clutter.  ;->

Hope this helps

/alan
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