I've said several times that tape backup beats disks. I can't maintain
the position anymore.
It used to be that a decent sized tape drive would be within what I
consider a reasonable price range. They'd come down in price as time
went by. While they may be doing that, it's not happening fast enough.
I wanted an AIT-3 drive so I could transition from my old AIT-1 media.
I got a "deal" on one for US$625. What I didn't know was that it was
made 5 years ago and had a 3 year warranty, so it was 2 years out of
warranty. And yes, it doesn't work. Sony is willing to work with me a
bit on this, but I don't expect them to be able to do much. The
retailer I used, Sony told me, is known for doing this kind of deal. So
now I know. Of course, I've not heard back from the vendor yet, but
I'll give them another working day to get back to me and make good
before I tell everyone and contact my credit card company to invoke the
warranty provision on my card.
For a /working/ version of this drive, I'd have to pay upwards of
US$1100, plus $46/tape.
So I just ordered a 1TB Seagate SATA drive and an enclosure from NewEgg
for noticably under US$300, which I intend to use with Time Machine.
Looks like my days with Retrospect are numbered. :-/ Thanks for a good
run, Dantz. I may return if Time Machine doesn't do it for me, but I'm
not holding my breath. My main reason for using Retrospect was its tape
handling, and I'm not likely to return to that method. Hm, OTOH,
Retrospect could still be helpful for maintaining separate off-site
disks...
I could get almost four of these drive-with-enclosure assemblies for the
price of a tape drive, and that doesn't include tape media. If I were a
bigger site or more commercial, and running with a few hundred tapes,
it'd be different. So be it.
--
Never insult a dude with only half a pair of dueling pistols.
- voodoorootbeer on TMBO
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