LT Drives and OSX

[Matthew Rogers]

So I thought I would start a thread about what LT drives work with OSX and how to use them.

I am currently looking at either LTO-3 or LTO-2 drives for backing up RED footage and projects (hopefully LTO-3 if the price under $2,300) There are two types of connections that I have found for them-SCSI (133 I believe) and SAS (Fibre?)

How do you write to the drives thought? I would imagine that with the Ethernet it is fairly easy. However, with SCSI, I'm not sure how.

Just looking for answers and success stories.

Matthew

 

[Alexis Hanawalt]

The SCSI on an LTO-3 is most likely 320. The card for that will run you $500.

Basically, you'll want to use backup software, and if the backup software you chose supports your LTO drive, you're in business. Retrospect should do the trick: http://www.emcinsignia.com/products/homeandoffice/retroformacintosh/


--Let me also add, I've heard horrible things about the firewire to SCSI converters - the tape head has to keep stopping to wait for more data... a mess.

 

[Matthew Rogers]

The SCSI on an LTO-3 is most likely 320. The card for that will run you $500.

Basically, you'll want to use backup software, and if the backup software you chose supports your LTO drive, you're in business. Retrospect should do the trick: http://www.emcinsignia.com/products/homeandoffice/retroformacintosh/


--Let me also add, I've heard horrible things about the firewire to SCSI converters - the tape head has to keep stopping to wait for more data... a mess.

I found this card for under $300--which seems pretty good: http://www.smalldog.com/product/40752

The software isn't bad to buy, But then I still have to get a case for the drive which is about $100. Plus, it would only be attachable to my MacPro or I'd have to get a SCSI card for a MBP. I'm starting to think that the Ethernet might be a better way to go.

What kind of firewire are you talking about? 400 or 800? FW400 only does 50 MB's a sec max, but FW800 does 100 MB's a sec max. I wonder if I can find a case that offers SCSI 320 to FW800. That might be really the way to go. Don't have to buy an extra card and can plug into many different systems if needed.

Oh, and what about SCSI320 to SATA? I'm getting a SATA card for an external RAID. If I could plug it into that, it would be really nice!

Matthew

 

[rod bradley]

I decided to go for a Dell LTO 4 tape drive with SAS interface (rather than SCSI) -- I'm hoping this wasn't a mistake. I've no experience with tape drives, and have no idea whether there's any software available for Mac that would operate this tape drive.

I notice Adaptac has a SAS card with Windows drivers for $240. I'm guessing that for backup of Red camera files that this would be a platform neutral process -- or am I mistaken? I would normally be using Mac platform for editing, but have a moderately fast PC machine that I could use for backup donkey work.

Any and all elucidation on any of this much appreciated.

Thanks.

Rod Bradley

 

[Alexis Hanawalt]

A couple threads where this stuff was discussed months ago are here:

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=3052

and here:

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=3096

I personally moved closer to the realization that a fully implemented tape backup system wouldn't necessarily be cheaper than redundant backup solely on hard drives. The tapes, however, are much less likely to "fail" in the long term.

The one enclosure idea I liked a lot was somebody's recommendation to simply buy a small PC with gigabit networking card and a slot that can hold an internal LTO drive...

 

[Thomas Mathai]

Tape based backup system probably won't be cheaper, but it can be more reliable in terms of scheduled backups done through the software instead of someone having to remember to do it.

I also recommend doing 2 backups simultaneously, so one can be taken offsite incase something happens.

With the right backup software, you can do a complete archive once, then schedule an incremental backup as you want it.

 

[rod bradley]

Thanks for the threads tips on past LTO discussions, and all the good information provided. I'd read those and have re-read them and haven't found many specifics as to implementing/controlling a drive on OSX -- or any thoughts/ knowledge on using SAS as opposed to SCSI. If anyone has any specifics or tips or pointers re software, controller cards, etc, much welcomed and many thanks.