>I'm still waiting for the backup vendors to jump into this discussion.
>You'll notice that while several vendors sell a backup solution, none sell
>a restore solutions ;-).

Ok - you asked for it. :-)

ORBiT has attempted to address a portion of the "big" problem with
their <plug alert>Delta Backup</plug alert> version of the BACKUP+
Product. The main feature of this is that one does not back up entire
files, but only portions of a file (actually, pages in MPE's case).
So, if you have a 128 gb file/data set or whatever, and only 100 mb
of data changes during a backup cycle, this is all that gets backed
up. That addresses the logistics of dealing with current archive
technologies and the fact that there may not be enough hours in a
day to complete a backup cycle before the next begins.


>...UPS ain't gonna stop it, and your raid will faithfully show
>corresponding amounts of damage to all mirrors), it can easily take
>twelve hours to restore from tape.

This is the major roadblock to overcome with backup technology
(or actually restore technology :-). And, there are ways to do
so.

>I am surprise that no one mentioned the phenomenon of "memory
>sticks" and other devices that store fairly sizable amounts
>of data in non-volatile RAM.

And the other technologies on the horizon. Yup, the industry is
going to have to address things differently in years to come.
But, isn't that the definition of high tech?

Regards,


M.

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *