Re: Backup Tapes -- MIDRANGE-L

MI>At 10:31 AM 4/14/97 -0500, you wrote:
MI>>We use 2Gb 1/4" QIC cartridges for tape backups on a 436.  There are
MI>>obvious advantages to using higher capacity tapes (5Gb+); am I missing
MI>>any disadvantages? (I got burned many years ago attempting to economize
MI>>on open reel tapes by using thin, high-capacity media.)  I'd appreciate

MI>The only disadvantage is that QIC is basically slow.  In general, QIC is a
MI>pretty good format.

My list of disadvantages to the 6380 is as follows:

(1) All tapes are sequential media.  Now that you have the ability to
    store more than 1000 files on a tape - and you SHOULD be doing a
    complete nightly backup - you will find that selecting 60 files and
    restoring them individually is a chore from Hell.  If, God forbid,
    you use the IBM SAVE ALL, restoring these 60 files will be even
    more time-consuming, since the logical method to do this is to sort
    the files into the tape VTOC order before you start.  It makes you
    wish that IBM had created a 2.5Gb diskette (like the PC folks are
    doing).  Mein Gott... why oh why are we wishing we had something the
    PC community already has?

(2) The Advanced 36 series has a standard tape drive (6380?) that is not
    backwards-compatible with the 6157.  You can read a 6157 tape, but
    the old model System/36s can't read any format you can write with a
    6380.  I still have customers with 5360 and 5362, and they SHOULD
    buy an AS/436, but it's a shame that *I* have to suffer too.  (Does
    anyone know about the FTS 225 tape drive?)

(3) The 2.5Gb tape is expensive to buy, and (unless you have the Large
    package or are using OS/400 with an SSP guest) you don't have enough
    disk space to fill up a 2.5 Gb tape.  It would seem that a slightly
    less-expensive tape with a smaller capacity would be a better deal.

On balance, I love the 6380 drive.  Finally, my customers have a tape
backup solution that meets 100% of their needs, even though my needs are
not addressed.  My 24-hour shops are not disturbed by their complete
nightly backups.  Also, once the tape is inserted and the system
identifies it, there are no additional 6-minute task waits before SSP
can use the same tape for a new job (as was with the 6157).

Too bad that I need a AS/36 for its tape save/restore function alone at
my home office.  Ten thousand bucks is a lot harder for me to pay for my
1 user than it is for the customers and their 20 users.... I wanna
laptop!

jgm@nak.com
"36 And Beyond! - We Never Gripe!"


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