Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!tektronix!tekgen!tekigm2!timothym From: timothym@tekigm2.TEK.COM (Timothy D Margeson) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: Tape Backup Unit Advice Message-ID: <2905@tekigm2.TEK.COM> Date: 7 May 88 08:20:24 GMT References: <15357@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> <10728@steinmetz.ge.com> Reply-To: timothym@tekigm2.UUCP (Timothy D Margeson) Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR. Lines: 56 In article <10728@steinmetz.ge.com> davidsen@crdos1.UUCP (bill davidsen) writes: >| I am currently in the process of buying a tape backup unit for my pc. > >I think you're going to have to go Irwin. You will probably not get a >cartrige system for what you want to pay. I *believe* that the models >have 10,20, 40MB capacity and that the model you want is 145. Hi, To add my two cents worth. I just bought a 44 meg tape drive for $299.00 for an internal model. The external model is about $400.00. It is a Colorado Memory Systems, XR-4i or XR-4e tape drive. The software is good and the system is much quieter than the Irwin drives. It uses DC-2000 tapes, but is not QIC-40 compatible, but who cares unless you plan on shipping tapes to friends and lovers. The error hit rate for the drive is 1E12 for the 44 meg format, 1E13 for the 29 meg format, and 5E14 for the 22 meg format. This is nice since you can select which level of protection you can live with, but not real good compared with QIC-40, which yields 1E14 at 40 megs. But, 1 error in 1 mega- mega bytes isn't too bad. I can live with that (my Irwin I had was worse, and that was in a Compaq Deskpro too!). That backup rate is 1 meg/minute for an XT, and 2 meg/minute for an AT. The drive will allow you to have 4 floppy disks connected with the drive, but in this configuration you need the adaptor board ($90.00, and is included with the external drive). So, if you are curious where to get one, e-mail a request to me, or call a distributor listed here: (Sorry, no numbers, I'm at home, all my data is at work) Entertainment Marketing in Texas, they have an 800 number; Franklin Telecom in California, Bay Area; Or, call the manufacturer: Colorado Memory Systems, (303) 669-8000 - ask for Joe, or for a distributor name, since CMS doesn't sell to the public. Finally, they also have a QIC-40 tape drive coming out real soon now, so you may want to think about that too! -- Tim Margeson (206)253-5240 PO Box 3500 d/s C1-937 @@ 'Who said that?' Vancouver, WA. 98668 {amd..hplabs}cae780!tektronix!tekigm2!timothym (this changes daily)