Home
About
Quacking Blog
Computer Tips
* Windows, security
* HDD Upgrade
* Resource Meter
* [LIIWEEK] links
* Upgrading drivers
* Dual Boot!
* Video card ID
* CD-RW selection
* Hardware vendors
* Computer links
Color Table
Java Page
Audio Page
* DonutTime prod notes
Vignettes
* SF Adventure
* Club Mallard
* Myself...Stranger
* My New Year's Eve
* DVC Reminiscences
* Geekbonics Sonnet
Recipes
* Dill zucchini saute
* French carrot soup
* Garlic bread
* Hungarian lentil soup
* Hungarian paprikas
* Kalamata Pasta
* Leek...pepper quiche
* Mexican lentils
* Mushroom ragout
* Parsleyed potatoes
* Pie crust for quiche
* String Beans w/Paprika
* Tacostadas
* Vegetable stir fry
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2000 15:59:41 -0800 (PST)
From: Eva
To: Tip Group
Dear Tip Group,
This is a funny story Eric found on the net which illustrates that CD writable discs using a CD burner are currently the very best way to back up your data. For the PC I recommend the Plextor CD-RW drives, for example I just installed the Plexwriter 8/4/32A model in a system I just built for a client (there are faster models as well). This is an IDE model which Plextor has just begun to offer this year for the first time. They are well-known in the industry for building the very best SCSI CD burners on the market and now that they have decided to offer IDE models they finally have acknowledged the predominance of IDE drives in the market. This is great because most of us regular computer users do not want to get involved with the complicated, difficult to configure, and expensive SCSI bus system. Although the SCSI way is technologically superior to IDE, it is generally best taken advantage of for high end network servers and people who do high-end video editing. For the rest of us, IDE is more than adequate.
Check out the CD burners at Plextor's site: https://www.plextor.com/english/index.html
to read a pretty fair article which compares SCSI vs. IDE read this: https://www.aswedo.com/pages/features/0400feat/idescsi.htm
I agree with the article except this sentence: "IDE has writers but they are infinitely more unstable and slower than SCSI writers. "
Not so. Most IDE drives today do a fine job burning CD discs. I have no trouble with my Yamaha 4x4x16 IDE and everyone I know with IDE burners are satisfied.
Also, the article is outdated (published in Apr 2000) and doesn't mention the latest IDE hard drives which run at ATA 100.
Now--on with the story...
-----------------------------------------------------------
Soon I'll be doing my backups on CD...not because I find zip disks unreliable, but because I now have nearly 100 MB to back up--too much for zip! Thought you'd like Fred Langa's report on another CD backup person: Eric
6) A Reader *Really* Torture-Tests His Backups LangaList reader Jean-Claude Racine is in a somewhat unique circumstance, but one that many of us might envy: He cruises the world in his yacht and downloads his LangaList issues via direct satellite Internet link! Being far from help and any support services, backups are especially important for Jean-Claude, and as such, he put his to an extreme test that I bet no other reader has done. I sure haven't!
Dear Fred: Thanks a lot for great Newsletter, which I highly appreciate while sailing around the world. In your October 16 edition [ see https://www.winmag.com/columns/explorer/2000/20.htm), you say that "CD-based backups are best-of-breed". Well, let me tell you that I am backing up my data on board every day on a CD-RW. This CD is placed near the grab bag in the event we should one day abandon ship. Knowing that this CD would inevitably get wet and salty in a survival situation, I tested it by keeping it during two weeks in a bucket of saltwater, exposed to sun. After this, I just rinsed the CD with clear water and a little bit of vinegar (to remove the salt), dried it and put it in my laptop. Would you believe it? All the data were perfectly readable and usable. You are right when you say that CD-based backups are best-of- breed!
Jean-Claude Racine (Switzerland)
Yacht Na-Maka-o-Kaha'i
Talk about a torture-test! Don't try that with your hard-drive, Zip or tape based backups! That CD ruggedness, plus the fact that each blank CD costs only half a buck and holds 640MB, makes CDs great for long-term, inexpensive, and extremely long-lived archiving. Even for those of us who *don't* live on yachts.
Webmaster:
In order to stop email harvesting robots I'm using an image to display my address instead of text.
This web site is 100% hand coded.
Back to the top