From: djbpitt+@pitt.edu (David J Birnbaum)
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi,comp.os.os2.misc,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: SCSI Tape Backup for OS/2 - Babe in the Woods
Date: 14 Aug 92 16:51:39 GMT
Followup-To: comp.periphs.scsi
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Originator: djbpitt@unixd2.cis.pitt.edu

The following includes a summary of replies to my earlier inquiry
about SCSI and OS/2, some information on tape backups for HPFS
disks, and a question about tape drive hardware. I would be very
grateful for any answers to the latter.

A couple of weeks ago I posted an inquiry about EISA SCSI host adapters 
for OS/2. The replies (most by email) confirmed almost any adapter
would work with OS/2's generic INT13 driver, but that an adapter with
drivers available (as opposed to "under development") would provide
better performance than using this generic driver. This narrowed the
search to Adaptec, Bustek, and Future Domain. The other original
candidates, Ultrastore and DTC, do not have any OS/2 drivers available;
Ultrastore claims to be working on them (but their own tech support
folks expressed some impatience with three months of premature 
announcements and missed deadlines) and DTC simply told me that I don't 
need drivers (technically true, but not the whole truth).

Another consideration is finding a SCSI tape backup for HPFS disks.
While many postings have lamented the difficulty of doing so, one
user confirmed that he was doing it currently with an Adaptec host
adapter and GTAK (available on the ftp sites). The mediating driver
here is an Adaptec ASPI driver (on the ftp sites in beta). A call to 
Bustek confirmed that they are releasing their _disk_ device driver on 
Monday (it's been available in beta for some time), but they do not 
have and do not plan to develop a non-disk (ASPI) driver for OS/2. In 
other words, other companies may have disk device drivers available or 
under development, but only Adaptec seems to have produced (or to be 
interested in producing) the OS/2 ASPI driver needed for SCSI tape 
backup systems.

Thus, the winner is the Adaptec 1742. Now for the question:

I have never used a tape backup in any system; neither have I ever
used a SCSI device in any system. I assume I want a tape backup that
will daisy chain off the SCSI adapter, rather than running off a floppy
connector; specifically, I want a drive that can work with Adaptec's
ASPI driver. I'll be backing up a 340MB drive on a single user system
fairly frequently, which means I'd like good performance, but I don't
need the same level as someone backing up a large LAN on a daily
basis. I'd prefer to be able to get the entire backup on a single
cartridge, but I won't mind splitting it up over multiple ones if I
can save more than a few pennies by doing so. 

Can anyone recommend tape drives to consider and those to avoid? Can
anyone suggest any features to look for in evaluating different drives?
What price range am I talking about here (I said "babe in the woods"
and I meant it :-) )?

Thanks,

David

P.S. And a special thanks to Jay for drawing my attention to GTAK.
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