Re: [OT] tape backup with XP

[LeeUKHA <mailinglists@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

"I have 40ish Gb of music so I ideally need as near to 2:1
compression as possible."

I can't help you with your problem, but I can tell you you're going to
be disappointed about the compression...

I'm guessing you have your music encoded in MP3/AAC/OGG/WM/etc these
files are already *very heavily* compressed, and won't compress down any
further (well maybe 1-2% is you're lucky).

When you see 2:1 compression on tape drives, it's an average using a mix
of files found on an average PC/server, which would mostly be data (eg.
Word docs, spreadsheets, powerpoint etc) and some programs, which would
compress nicely.

The 2:1 is best case scenario.

Lee

Matthew Miles wrote:

>
> Hey all,
>
> I recently bought an HP Surestore 12000e 24/48Gb autoloader off eBay.
> I want to use it to backup all albums (rather than feed CD's into a
> computer for about a week!).  I will be using it with a Compaq
> Proliant 850R (low spec, but it doesnt need much power really).
>
> Problem is that i'm waiting for a cable (SCSI II narrow > SCSI 3
> 68pin) so I can't connect it all up yet.  I do however, have an
> Adaptec 1640 PCMCIA SCSI card which I have used to hook the autoloader
> up to my XP home laptop.
>
> Here is where the problem starts...
>
> I cannot seem to get it to write at more than 1:1 compression.
> Originally it would only write at 0.8:1 - I didn't realise that this
> was possible!  I messed with the dip switches on the bottom and turned
> hardware compression off and host control on. This improved it to 1:1.
> But I have 40ish Gb of music so I ideally need as near to 2:1
> compression as possible.
>
> Any ideas for software and/or what am I doing wrong?
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Matt Miles
>
> P.S
>
> I managed to get hold of an old copy of Veritas 8 which I will use on
> the server - but it won't install on XP for obvious reasons.
>