Re: Help w/ offsite backups

[Larry Bolhuis <lbolhuis@xxxxxxxxxx>]

<snip>
Dan,
 
> Questions:
> How should we go about *safely* packaging this media?

  Depends on the tapes of course but mostly a padded plastic envelope is
a pretty good choice. Plastic because it is (mostly) waterproof. IBM
used to ship tapes by the boatload for PTFs and such and they usuallly
were just in those envelopes.

> Someone brought up the concern of stray magnetic waves that could hit the
> media between point A and point B, effectively destroying the data.  Is this a
> real concern?  If so, how does one effectively protect magnetic media when
> shipping it?

  Interestingly my Brother did a project while in college to see what
actually affected magnetic media. He used some 4mm tapes and 3.5"
Diskettes. He ran them throught the x-ray at the airport about 100 times
(the security people thought it was a neat idea-we have a small
airport...), he put them in the microwave on high, he laid them on top
of the television for a few days (TV On), he put them on stereo
speakers, put some on the amplifier, and taped some to the blower motor
of the furnace.  Interestingly only two things caused the media to be
unreadable: Enough time in the MW to melt something (like the center hub
of the diskette) and leaving the suckers on the dash in the sun (which
wasn't a planned part of the test).  OK, AND the bulk tape eraser at the
College radio station but hey, it's SUPPOSED to do that!

  So while I still don't recommend keeping them taped to a large
electric motor, the stuff is more resiliant than often believed. I
wouldn't worry about this too much.

> Anybody know of import/export rules for this type of material for Mexico,
> Canada, and the U.K.?

  Not a clue.

> Anybody doing this recommend (or not) any particular delivery service company?

  IBM Uses Airborn Express so they can't be all bad at it (well at least
they get plenty of practice!!)

  Larry

-- 
Larry Bolhuis           | Cogito ergo mercari iSeries 
Arbor Solutions, Inc.   |
(616) 451-2500          |               (I think, therefore I buy iSeries.)
(616) 451-2571 -fax     |
lbolhuis@arbsol.com     |        #3  1951-2001
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