Backup Devices & Strategies-('99)

Backup Devices and Strategies

Jan Hayden

PC Communications

Saturday, AM Class

Table of Contents

Introduction ............................................................................................3

Removable Storage ........................................................................ 3

Capacity ............................................................................. 3

Media Cost .......................................................................... 3

Storage Media Chart...............................................................4

Tape Base Systems .........................................................................4

Magnetic-Optical Systems ................................................................5

MO Picture...........................................................................5

Network Storage..............................................................................6

Backup Software .............................................................................8

Backup Principles ............................................................................9

Backup Diagram.................................................................10

Power Failures..............................................................................10

If you're concerned about data integrity, it shouldn't be news to you to back up regularly. As hard drives get larger and larger, we have more to lose if something goes wrong. Archiving is usually important in any business setting or for people heavily into document-management systems. Your PC's data is worth a lot more than the PC itself. Spend a bit more money to protect the data with removable storage, a simple backup scheme, and a decent electric power protection. Together they don't cost much, and they add up to data insurance. The simplest mechanism for ensuring sustained operations is to increase the ease of reproducibility. This is the reason that backups are done.

Removable Storage

Capacity

Super-floppy drives use high-density magnetic media and an enhanced read/write head design to increase disk capacity. These drives do double duty. They read and write not only super-floppy disks, but also common 1.44MB floppy disks, examples of these are Imation's 120MB SuperDisk (formerly the LS-120) or Sony's 250MBHiFD drive.

If you are being selective and want to archive up to 650MB of files, CD-Recordable (CD-R) and Cd-Rewritable (CD-RW) drives are a great option. CD-Rewritable (CD-RW) is another useful medium for storing up to 650MB of data. These drives allow you to overwrite data previously written to a disc, so the disks are "recyclable" you can use packet-writing software to drag and drop files to CD-RW discs or convention premastering software to write sessions to your discs, so the medium is a fairly flexible one to use.

For archiving larger files, high-capacity cartridge drives, such as the Jaz and Jaz2, offer 1GFB and 2GB of storage, respectively. Iomega's Jaz and Jaz2 drives come in at the high end (Iomega claims that the Jaz 2GB is up to 40 percent faster than the original Jaz, but don't count on big speed gains unless you have a fast system with an Ultra SCSI adapter. (Iomega's Jaz 2GB Gives Users More Storage Space and Solid Performance by Sheldon Leeman, July 1998.) With capacities of 1GB and 2GB, respectively, these are well suited for storing digital-video and image files, multimedia presentations, or DTP layouts. Mag-Optical (MO) and DVD-RAM drives have tremendous capacities, but due to the high costs and relative obscurity of the formats, few people have bought into these storage systems so far, being that their more adaptive to Network Storage.

Media Cost

After the initial outlay for the drive, you'll be faced with the cost of the storage media the drive uses. Keep in mind that what seems like a bargain may be a moneypit in disguise. For example floppy disks are still the cheapest per-unit media at approximately 50 cents each, but on a per-megabyte cost basis (around 35 cents per megabyte), they're the most costly form of storage. Also on the expensive end of the spectrum are 640 MB, Mag-Optical disks, at about 5.5cents per megabyte, and 1GB Jaz media at 6 to 7 cents per megabyte. Jaz2 and super-floppy media end up costing between 3.5 and 5 cents per megabyte. The best deal in town is CD-R media, which cost under a penny per megabyte.

STORAGE MEDIUM

DRIVE COST

MEDIA COST

MEDIA COST(per MB)

CD-R 650MB

$175. to $400.

$1.30 to $2.50

0.3 cents

DVD-RAM 5.2GB

$500

$30.

1 cent

TAPE 30 to 50GB

$300 to $1,000

$40.

1 cent

DAT tape 4 to 20GB

$600 to $1,400

$25 to$30

2 cents

QIC/Travan Tape 5 to20GB

$170 to $550

$30 to $60

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