RE: Where are all of the /400's going.

> From: MacWheel99@aol.com
>
> > > Back to the original question, then:  how much does 100M of disk
> >  > cost?
> >
> >  8GB AS/400 disk: $1400
> >  20GB IDE disk:     $88
> >
> >  This doesn't take into account labor/installation charge.
> Also it should be  noted that the AS/400 disk is  10,000RPM as opposed to
the
> 7200RPM of the IDE disk.
>
> How does the reliability compare?

If you're willing to have redundant machines, it's pretty darned good, Mac.
Remember that I'm not suggesting moving mission critical transaction data
off the server, but instead talking about the ability to have static, public
information served from a less expensive medium.  In my previous post I
showed how, for about $1400, you can have a completely redundant 20GB HTTP
server, which should be good for all your static needs.  Use one as a backup
for the other, and use a CD-RW drive (another $100-$200) for data storage.


> Now consider the scores of cases I have witnessed in recent
> decades or been
> told about by friends.  A PC system backed up on tape, the PC
> system has to
> be replaced.  The new tape system cannot read the old tapes.
> Can't you read
> the old tapes into some intermediate service like we used in the
> punched card
> conversion?  The PC infrastructure is not yet setup for a type of
> service we
> IBM users have taken for granted for decades.

Old stories, old news.  A CD-RW drive looks like any other disk drive,
except much slower.  The format of the data on the drive is standardized,
and can be used to transfer data between machines running not only different
hardware, but different operating systems.


> Yes it is cheaper, but how does its reliability & infrastructure compare?

Your mileage may vary.  I guess it depends on whether you consider a CD-RW a
decent backup medium.  The fact that CDs cost about a buck and a half apiece
(for 700MB, or about 2 bucks a gig) makes it pretty easy to cost justify
double or triple backups; it's a lot harder to do that for tapes (e.g.,
QIC-150, $18 for 150MB or around $125 a gig).  So, if you like two backups
(one onsite, one offsite), and you want redundancy in both places, then I
think you might want to seriously consider CD-RW.