Re: DAT Tape Drive Worries

The best way to deal with any type of backup is to eliminate any single point of failure. I have seen tapes destroyed just taking them off of the reader, forgetting to properly use write-protect, etc., etc., etc. That is why with the Informix engine, it is desirable to have not only your archive tapes, but also the log files that get you from the prior archive tape to the new archive tape, just in case. Becase we cannot tolerate any loss of data in our environment, we minimize our failure points by sending the backup logfiles to disk. We then tar the logfiles to tape every hour. We also duplicate one systems logfiles across the network to another server because of it's disk configuration. Thankfully, we have never, in three years, had to use our archive. But we have one system configured to 'crash and burn' so we can practice our log/archive/recover procedures, both for the database *and* for the operating system. As far as tape media, I would suggest you determine your requirements in terms of speed and volume, and let that be your driving point. Unless you plan on long-term archiving, you should be able to use anything from 9 track to QIC-80 to DAT. If you also need long-term archiving, you might investigate CD-ROM burners/readers. As far as device failures go, I would have to ask, what failed?? If the heads fail, then you might be using a poor quality tape or drive. Or maybe the environmental controls are a contributing factor. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- In article <48dgkt$a9u$1@mhadg.production.compuserve.com>, David Langley <102456.1106@CompuServe.COM> wrote: >Hello, > > I'm new to the P.C. class server world and I would like to >gain some insight on our backup technology. My employer seems to >have a history of DAT tape drive failures. Is the DAT technology >unreliable? If so what is better in the $1k to $3k range. > > I'd like to hear what hardware and software other 486 or >Pentium class systems use for backup to removeable media. > >We are running informix SE 4.1 on SCO Unix 3.2. with >4 Gig SCSI hard drive capacity. 30 users max. > > >Thanks, David Langley >