Re: Backup devices

[Michal Jaegermann <michal ellpspace math ualberta ca>]

> Ontrack? Do you mean Onstream? (Ontrack is a data recovery company).
> It is not very compatible (yet).
> There is limited support on Linux for the IDE version, but not SCSI yet.

This is second or third :-) hand knowledge but apparently BSD guys
looked at writing SCSI driver for Onstream and quit in disgust.  This
is reported to be a "bastard son of SCSI" device - not quite compatible
or even implementing a sane subset of SCSI specs.  This may be true
as real SCSI devices do not require on Linux special drivers if a
controller is supported.

> If you are looking for a nice tape drive (big capacity, reasonable cost) 
> look at the VXA1 form Ecrix:

Responding to another question "how long data on a tape will last"
this very much depends on a kind of a tape.  These guys from Ecrix
claim 30 years of a shell life (no idea how it was tested if at all).
I have around some 8 mm tapes at least 6 years old which are still good.
OTOH most DAT tapes will last a year, or maybe two.  I do not remember
what is an expected life for DLT - something like 15 years?

  Michal