Author Topic: Tape drive or disk drive? (Read 3201 times)

just Warren · « **on:** September 12, 2015, 04:32:24 PM »

Imagine that you could only get to choose one to use for all of your computery needs.

What do you choose and why?

41magsnub · « **Reply #1 on:** September 12, 2015, 04:35:38 PM »

What year is it???

just Warren · « **Reply #2 on:** September 12, 2015, 04:37:25 PM »

Now.

41magsnub · « **Reply #3 on:** September 12, 2015, 04:38:45 PM »

Trick question?

bedlamite · « **Reply #4 on:** September 12, 2015, 04:40:14 PM »

Sounds like you need one of these:

Ben · « **Reply #5 on:** September 12, 2015, 04:41:11 PM »

RoadKingLarry · « **Reply #6 on:** September 12, 2015, 06:41:29 PM »

Quote from: bedlamite on September 12, 2015, 04:40:14 PM

Sounds like you need one of these:

.

I'm pretty sure I have one of those up in the attic.

HeroHog · « **Reply #7 on:** September 12, 2015, 07:27:43 PM »

Seriously, tape is long dead. Pocket 1 and 2 tb drives and SAN drives are the way to go. Hell, I have a mirrored pair of 2tb drives in an Iomega/Lenovo IX2-3 SAN here at my house!

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/servers/network-storage/lenovoemc/ix2/

lee n. field · « **Reply #8 on:** September 12, 2015, 08:01:47 PM »

What ~~Herzog~~ Herohog* said. Tape is very much a niche thing. A small niche.

*stupid android spellcheck

Marnoot · « **Reply #9 on:** September 12, 2015, 09:10:55 PM »

Quote from: bedlamite on September 12, 2015, 04:40:14 PM

Sounds like you need one of these:

That thing took forever to load Frogger . . .

KD5NRH · « **Reply #10 on:** September 12, 2015, 09:18:06 PM »

Go for paper tape. That way if your reader goes out, you can still type it back in by hand. It doesn't get shuffled like punch cards, either.

Doggy Daddy · « **Reply #11 on:** September 12, 2015, 10:12:25 PM »

Quote from: Marnoot on September 12, 2015, 09:10:55 PM

That thing took forever to load Frogger . . .

Well, if you didn't insist on such graphics-intensive games...

HeroHog · « **Reply #12 on:** September 13, 2015, 02:57:46 PM »

I'm a bit of a computer geek being a former PC tech -> Net admin - > Programmer -> Sr Programmer/Analyst -> retired/disabled idiot living on the internet. I have 4 notebook computers running here in the living room all storing their working files on the SAN drive via WiFi/1 gigabit hard wire. Then there are our 2 iPhones and the wife's Kindle Fire tied into the WiFi net as well. The 4 notebooks all run SETI@home when we aren't actively using them so the spare cycles don't go to waste. One notebook is tied into the 1,000 watt surround sound 6 speaker system and uses the TV as a monitor. All the notebooks and the wife's iPhone are remote accessible from my notebook and iPhone from anywhere in the world where I can access the internet. In our office there is a WiFi repeater that is hard wired to the HP Duplex Laser and HP color Inkjet scanner/copy/fax/duplex business class printers.

At the bottom left of the shot is a pile of .5 and 1tb pocket drives.

Yeah, I'm a bit of a geek...

just Warren · « **Reply #13 on:** September 13, 2015, 03:54:26 PM »

As these guys say tape has some huge advantages in certain applications.

And Sony and IBM have a developed a tape that can hold 148 GB per sq in (185 TB per cartridge) plus scan times have come way down.

Given that information I was hoping that a pro-tape partisan, since I'm not the guy to carry the ball for either side, would hop in here and we could have a nice debate.

Alas.

Perhaps saying "now" was a mistake. Maybe in a few years?

zxcvbob · « **Reply #14 on:** September 13, 2015, 04:15:25 PM »

Tape is better for some high-end niche applications. But I don't know enough about it to discuss it.

Ben · « **Reply #15 on:** September 13, 2015, 04:23:32 PM »

Well, I think the debate would be in the business realm. There were still applications for the large tape carousels when I left .gov. For home users however, I think cost and convenience make external disk, NAS, etc. storage more practical for most users. I consider myself a fairly heavy user of data and I still backup to a 4TB drive with room to spare. I do keep music, and images from my D300, on a separate drive, but two external USBs are still way cheaper than a good tape system. For those with big bandwidth at home, cloud backup is another relatively cheap solution.

Also for catastrophic stuff, an external USB drive will be much more practical than tape. Example = evacuate the house due to fire, earthquake, etc. It's easy to grab the USB drive, and it will then just plug into whatever computer you have handy if you have important files you need to access.

lee n. field · « **Reply #16 on:** September 13, 2015, 05:02:37 PM »

Quote from: Warren on September 13, 2015, 03:54:26 PM

As these guys say tape has some huge advantages in certain applications.

And Sony and IBM have a developed a tape that can hold 148 GB per sq in (185 TB per cartridge) plus scan times have come way down.

Given that information I was hoping that a pro-tape partisan, since I'm not the guy to carry the ball for either side, would hop in here and we could have a nice debate.

Alas.

Perhaps saying "now" was a mistake. Maybe in a few years?

The original question was "tape or disk for all your computery needs?"

Tape's really only good for one thing.

HeroHog · « **Reply #17 on:** September 13, 2015, 08:48:22 PM »

In a business environment, they normally use tape, store today's in the safe and yesterday's off-site. They use high-end tapes and drives on WIDE bandwidth backbones (Fiber Optic) ganged through switches to the servers. They either use enough drives so as not to have to swap tapes or like my company did, use a robotic tape changer with multiple drives.

Yes tape is fine in bigger businesses. For home/small office use? Portable drives/Network-attached storage (NAS)/storage area network (SAN) is the way to fly.

RoadKingLarry · « **Reply #18 on:** September 13, 2015, 09:20:38 PM »

Sometimes it's tough to let go of the old technology. We still run a manual back up on our switches to tape and do an offsite rotation. You'd think that with all the high end fiber we have there would be a better way.
We even have one location that uses a 5-1/4 inch floppy for the boot routine. Yup still relying on a 5-1/4 inch floppy with a penciled in date from 1988 to keep the switch alive.

HeroHog · « **Reply #19 on:** September 13, 2015, 09:33:25 PM »

This is very similar to what our tape library looked like. It has a "human motion" arm that moved in arcs like a human does, not in a series of linear movements. WAY cool to watch in operation!

MechAg94 · « **Reply #20 on:** September 13, 2015, 10:12:56 PM »

Quote from: KD5NRH on September 12, 2015, 09:18:06 PM

Go for paper tape. That way if your reader goes out, you can still type it back in by hand. It doesn't get shuffled like punch cards, either.

And use a dot matrix printer with the perforated paper feed that is never quite in alignment.

RoadKingLarry · « **Reply #21 on:** September 13, 2015, 10:29:12 PM »

Quote from: HeroHog on September 13, 2015, 09:33:25 PM

This is very similar to what our tape library looked like. It has a "human motion" arm that moved in arcs like a human does, not in a series of linear movements. WAY cool to watch in operation!

For several years I worked on Memorex 5400 tape libraries. Lots of fun. Did everything for starting with a bare floor installation to general maintenance.

K Frame · « **Reply #22 on:** September 13, 2015, 10:52:05 PM »

Hollerith cards.

cordex · « **Reply #23 on:** September 13, 2015, 10:54:24 PM »

Quote from: HeroHog on September 13, 2015, 08:48:22 PM

Yes tape is fine in bigger businesses.

Strictly for backups, though. Not all their computery needs.

Scout26 · « **Reply #24 on:** September 14, 2015, 01:25:36 AM »

What size disks 8", 5.25" or 3.5" ?

What kind of tape reel to reel, cassette, or cartridges ?

News:

Author Topic: Tape drive or disk drive? (Read 3201 times)