Colorado 5GB tape drive

[Dr. Edward Warren]

I need advice about my 2 Colorado 5GB tape drives. I have not used them on
my current computers with Windows XP and I cannot find a Windows XP driver
for them. I used to have them back up my entire hard drive automatically at
night, but I suspect that that is no longer possible. Are they in fact
junk? Is there a better medium to use for backup now? I have a CD/DVD
burner. Should I change my backup strategy to just back up data and then
reinstall everything in case of a disaster?
Thank you,
Edward Warren

[Matthew Msatriano]

You might try to download a trial version of
Stomp Backup MyPC, Version 6.0.0 at:

http://www.stompsoft.com/backupmypc.html?SourceID=knc_goog_backup_mypc

Check it out "the try now version."

I have a 14g travan tape and HP doesn't support it in XP, and the trial
version of Backup MyPC worked just fine. I think it works for any travan
tape drives.

Good luck





"Dr. Edward Warren" <e-warren@att.net> wrote in message
news:90MTe.20122$qY1.4341@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...I need advice about my 2 Colorado 5GB tape drives. I have not used them on my current computers with Windows XP and I cannot find a Windows XP driver for them. I used to have them back up my entire hard drive automatically at night, but I suspect that that is no longer possible. Are they in fact junk? Is there a better medium to use for backup now? I have a CD/DVD burner. Should I change my backup strategy to just back up data and then reinstall everything in case of a disaster? Thank you, Edward Warren

[LJ]

"Dr. Edward Warren" <e-warren@att.net> wrote in message
news:90MTe.20122$qY1.4341@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...I need advice about my 2 Colorado 5GB tape drives. I have not used them on my current computers with Windows XP and I cannot find a Windows XP driver for them. I used to have them back up my entire hard drive automatically at night, but I suspect that that is no longer possible. Are they in fact junk? Is there a better medium to use for backup now? I have a CD/DVD burner. Should I change my backup strategy to just back up data and then reinstall everything in case of a disaster? Thank you, Edward Warren

Have you considered a 2nd hard drive? I have all my drives in removable
trays, I can shut down, switch my D drive to one I use for cloning, bootup
with a Ghost 2003 floppy and make a complete bootable clone of 17 GB in less
than 15 minutes.

[Ben Myers]

Your approach of cloning a hard drive is definitely less error prone and more
relaible than using a tape drive for only a partial backup... Ben Myers

On Thu, 08 Sep 2005 21:57:30 GMT, "nb" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:
"Dr. Edward Warren" <e-warren@att.net> wrote in messagenews:90MTe.20122$qY1.4341@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...I need advice about my 2 Colorado 5GB tape drives. I have not used them on my current computers with Windows XP and I cannot find a Windows XP driver for them. I used to have them back up my entire hard drive automatically at night, but I suspect that that is no longer possible. Are they in fact junk? Is there a better medium to use for backup now? I have a CD/DVD burner. Should I change my backup strategy to just back up data and then reinstall everything in case of a disaster? Thank you, Edward WarrenHave you considered a 2nd hard drive? I have all my drives in removabletrays, I can shut down, switch my D drive to one I use for cloning, bootupwith a Ghost 2003 floppy and make a complete bootable clone of 17 GB in lessthan 15 minutes.

[LJ]

I used to image to my D drive and also use it for backing up my data but
imaging takes much longer. With disk drives approaching $.25 US after
rebate (just got a Samsung 160gb for $40) I just bought another spare and
started cloning. 15 minutes and I'm done and I have a complete backup OS,
programs, data everything. Tape drives are just not worth the bother, I got
bite long ago with an HP tape drive that never worked right and HP wanted to
charge me for the software upgrades to make it right. No way.

<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
news:4320c140.14969620@nntp.charter.net... Your approach of cloning a hard drive is definitely less error prone and more relaible than using a tape drive for only a partial backup... Ben Myers On Thu, 08 Sep 2005 21:57:30 GMT, "nb" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:"Dr. Edward Warren" <e-warren@att.net> wrote in messagenews:90MTe.20122$qY1.4341@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...I need advice about my 2 Colorado 5GB tape drives. I have not used themon my current computers with Windows XP and I cannot find a Windows XP driver for them. I used to have them back up my entire hard drive automatically at night, but I suspect that that is no longer possible. Are they in fact junk? Is there a better medium to use for backup now? I have a CD/DVD burner. Should I change my backup strategy to just back up data and then reinstall everything in case of a disaster? Thank you, Edward WarrenHave you considered a 2nd hard drive? I have all my drives in removabletrays, I can shut down, switch my D drive to one I use for cloning, bootupwith a Ghost 2003 floppy and make a complete bootable clone of 17 GB inlessthan 15 minutes.

[Ben Myers]

The low-end cheap tape drives sold in mass market outlets are not worth the
bother. There is some argument favoring the high-end SCSI units. They are fast
and reliable, but also extremely expensive, beyond the means of most individual
owners of computers. So, decent tape drives are somewhat confined to raised
floor computer rooms in medium to large enterprises. With the cost of disk
drives continuing to drop and with further developments in high capacity optical
media, one has to wonder whether or not the days of tape drives are numbered.

.... Ben Myers

On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 03:23:43 GMT, "nb" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:
I used to image to my D drive and also use it for backing up my data butimaging takes much longer. With disk drives approaching $.25 US afterrebate (just got a Samsung 160gb for $40) I just bought another spare andstarted cloning. 15 minutes and I'm done and I have a complete backup OS,programs, data everything. Tape drives are just not worth the bother, I gotbite long ago with an HP tape drive that never worked right and HP wanted tocharge me for the software upgrades to make it right. No way.<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in messagenews:4320c140.14969620@nntp.charter.net... Your approach of cloning a hard drive is definitely less error prone and more relaible than using a tape drive for only a partial backup... Ben Myers On Thu, 08 Sep 2005 21:57:30 GMT, "nb" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:"Dr. Edward Warren" <e-warren@att.net> wrote in messagenews:90MTe.20122$qY1.4341@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...>I need advice about my 2 Colorado 5GB tape drives. I have not used them>on> my current computers with Windows XP and I cannot find a Windows XP> driver> for them. I used to have them back up my entire hard drive> automatically> at> night, but I suspect that that is no longer possible. Are they in fact> junk? Is there a better medium to use for backup now? I have a CD/DVD> burner. Should I change my backup strategy to just back up data and> then> reinstall everything in case of a disaster?> Thank you,> Edward WarrenHave you considered a 2nd hard drive? I have all my drives in removabletrays, I can shut down, switch my D drive to one I use for cloning, bootupwith a Ghost 2003 floppy and make a complete bootable clone of 17 GB inlessthan 15 minutes.

[Dr. Edward Warren]

I am starting to see this myself. That is why I asked the question. It
worked well for me when I had Windows 98, but it is not going to fill the
bill now.
Thank you,
Edward Warren


<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
news:43217b16.2171734@nntp.charter.net... The low-end cheap tape drives sold in mass market outlets are not worth
the bother. There is some argument favoring the high-end SCSI units. They
are fast and reliable, but also extremely expensive, beyond the means of most
individual owners of computers. So, decent tape drives are somewhat confined to
raised floor computer rooms in medium to large enterprises. With the cost of
disk drives continuing to drop and with further developments in high capacity
optical media, one has to wonder whether or not the days of tape drives are
numbered. ... Ben Myers On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 03:23:43 GMT, "nb" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:I used to image to my D drive and also use it for backing up my data butimaging takes much longer. With disk drives approaching $.25 US afterrebate (just got a Samsung 160gb for $40) I just bought another spare andstarted cloning. 15 minutes and I'm done and I have a complete backup
OS,programs, data everything. Tape drives are just not worth the bother, I
gotbite long ago with an HP tape drive that never worked right and HP wanted
tocharge me for the software upgrades to make it right. No way.<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in messagenews:4320c140.14969620@nntp.charter.net... Your approach of cloning a hard drive is definitely less error prone
and more relaible than using a tape drive for only a partial backup... Ben Myers On Thu, 08 Sep 2005 21:57:30 GMT, "nb" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:>"Dr. Edward Warren" <e-warren@att.net> wrote in message>news:90MTe.20122$qY1.4341@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...>>I need advice about my 2 Colorado 5GB tape drives. I have not used
them>>on>> my current computers with Windows XP and I cannot find a Windows XP>> driver>> for them. I used to have them back up my entire hard drive>> automatically>> at>> night, but I suspect that that is no longer possible. Are they in
fact>> junk? Is there a better medium to use for backup now? I have a
CD/DVD>> burner. Should I change my backup strategy to just back up data and>> then>> reinstall everything in case of a disaster?>> Thank you,>> Edward Warren>>Have you considered a 2nd hard drive? I have all my drives in
removable>trays, I can shut down, switch my D drive to one I use for cloning,
bootup>with a Ghost 2003 floppy and make a complete bootable clone of 17 GB in>less>than 15 minutes.>>