Cost Of The Storage Media The Drive example essay topic

Backup Devices and Strategies Jan Hayden PC Communications Saturday, AM Class Table of Contents Introduction... 3 Removable Storage... 3 Capacity... 3 Media Cost...

3 Storage Media Chart... 4 Tape Base Systems... 4 Magnetic-Optical Systems... 5 MO Picture... 5 Network Storage...

6 Backup Software... 8 Backup Principles... 9 Backup Diagram... 10 Power Failures... 10 If you " re concerned about data integrity, it shouldn't be news to you to back up regularly. As hard drives get larger and larger, we have more to lose if something goes wrong.

Archiving is usually important in any business setting or for people heavily into document-management systems. Your PC's data is worth a lot more than the PC itself. Spend a bit more money to protect the data with removable storage, a simple backup scheme, and a decent electric power protection. Together they don't cost much, and they add up to data insurance. The simplest mechanism for ensuring sustained operations is to increase the ease of reproducibility.

This is the reason that backups are done. Removable StorageCapacitySuper-floppy drives use high-density magnetic media and an enhanced read / write head design to increase disk capacity. These drives do double duty. They read and write not only super-floppy disks, but also common 1.44 MB floppy disks, examples of these are Imation's 120 MB Super Disk (formerly the LS-120) or Sony's 250 MBH iFD drive. If you are being selective and want to archive up to 650 MB of files, CD-Recordable (CD-R) and Cd-Rewritable (CD-RW) drives are a great option. CD-Rewritable (CD-RW) is another useful medium for storing up to 650 MB of data.

These drives allow you to overwrite data previously written to a disc, so the disks are "recyclable" you can use packet-writing software to drag and drop files to CD-RW discs or convention p remastering software to write sessions to your discs, so the medium is a fairly flexible one to use. For archiving larger files, high-capacity cartridge drives, such as the Jaz and Jaz 2, offer 1 GB and 2 GB of storage, respectively. Iomega's Jaz and Jaz 2 drives come in at the high end (Iomega claims that the Jaz 2 GB is up to 40 percent faster than the original Jaz, but don't count on big speed gains unless you have a fast system with an Ultra SCSI adapter. (Iomega's Jaz 2 GB Gives Users More Storage Space and Solid Performance by Sheldon Lee man, July 1998.) With capacities of 1 GB and 2 GB, respectively, these are well suited for storing digital-video and image files, multimedia presentations, or DTP layouts.

Mag-Optical (MO) and DVD-RAM drives have tremendous capacities, but due to the high costs and relative obscurity of the formats, few people have bought into these storage systems so far, being that their more adaptive to Network Storage. Media Cost After the initial outlay for the drive, you " ll be faced with the cost of the storage media the drive uses. Keep in mind that what seems like a bargain may be a money pit in disguise. For example floppy disks are still the cheapest per-unit media at approximately 50 cents each, but on a per-megabyte cost basis (around 35 cents per megabyte), they " re the most costly form of storage. Also on the expensive end of the spectrum are 640 MB, Mag-Optical disks, at about 5.5 cents per megabyte, and 1 GB Jaz media at 6 to 7 cents per megabyte.

Jaz 2 and super-floppy media end up costing between 3.5 and 5 cents per megabyte. The best deal in town is CD-R media, which cost under a penny per megabyte. STORAGE MEDIUM DRIVE COSTMEDIA COSTMEDIA COST (per MB) CD-R 650 MB$175. to $400. $1.30 to $2.500. A good tape system is practically invisible, if you are doing your job right. After all, about the only time you hear about tape backups is when something goes "boom" and data is lost.

But tape vendors are orchestrating changes in the market that are sure to get your attention-before something goes wrong. Tape performance is also on the rise. Tape drives, in a recently published study, International Data Corp. estimates that almost 88 percent of all tape drive shipped in 1998 were either 4 mm (DAT) or QIC (quarter-inch cartridge format), with the QIC segment (that's the Travan format) in slight decline, but still accounting for a 54 percent of the market. (Backup hardware, Infoworld, October, 1998.) For example, Storage Technology is developing a mid range, fast-access tape drive for release by the end of the year. Called the 9840 it also loads the tapes in the middle to improve seek time to an average for 10 seconds on it 20 GB cartridge. It will be one of the first drives to support systems across the enterprise, including Unix, Windows NT and mainframe operating systems.

Additionally, servo guidance technology is making its way into half-inch tape mechanisms such as IBM's Mag star family. Servo improves tape alignment for speedier, more reliable reads and writes. Also paving the way for greater acceleration, IBM's Virtual Tape technology intelligently caches data onto RAID devices attached to tape libraries. But magnetic optical (MO) technology remains the best choice when speed and capacity matter or archival longevity is key. With seek times double or triple that of hard disks, MO provides fast, reliable performance.

(Picture courtesy of Grolier, Multimedia Encyclopedia, 1999) Magnetic Optical System sMO disks, unlike hard drives or tapes, are nearly indestructible -- nothing touches the magnetic media -- with a shelf life of about a century. On optical discs, information is stored as a series of lands, or flat areas, and pits. A laser assembly reads the spinning disk, converting lands and pits into sequences of electric signals. When the beam hits a land, right, it is reflected onto a photo diode, which produces an electric signal. Laser beam are scattered by pits, left, so no signal is generated. The disk, which cost a penny or two per megabyte, are a bargain if one-term archiving is you goal.

The new technology moving in to the optical storage space. Digital Video Disk, or DVD, promises even greater capacity (9.4 GB) and lower cost than traditional optical drives, but with the same longevity and reliability. Rewritabel DVD has been a elusive dream for those who seek multi-gigabyte removable storage. Although some products have been shipping since late 1998, confusion over competing standards, incompatibilities, and lengthy product delays have caused consumer doubts. There are four defined standards for re writable DVD, but only two of them are directly applicable to computer data storage.

And, although each standard is based on reading DVDs, each records DVDs differently, and the competing technologies do not read one another's recorded disks. All four standards are loosely grouped under the category of DVD-ROM, a standard that plays DVDs, CDs, and CD-ROMs. Until very recently, some DVD drives did not read CD-RW disks. The type of storage method you choose depends primarily on the data you are backing up. For example, if you are required by federal law to maintain banking or legal records for a specific number of years, you should choose storage media that is reliable and durable, such as optical disk. But if you are backing up huge departmental databases nightly, your foremost concern will be capacity and tape drives will be your storage method of choice.

(The future of storage will get you thinking outside the cartridge by Benjamin Keyser, Infoworld, October 26, 1998.) For wholesale backup, tape still rules. Tape drives using Tranvan TR-4 and TR-5 tape cartridges are very common in the consumer market, while DAT (4 mm tape) drives are more appropriate for workstations or small network, server because of their better performance and larger capacities. In addition, On Stream's new proprietary ADR tapes format delivers between 30 GB and 50 GB of backup or archive capacity per cartridge. The internal Iomega Zip CD drive is the perfect complement to any drive. It reads, writes, or rewrites many types of CD Formats, making it a storage solution for users. The internal Zip CD drive performs at a speed of 4 X Record, 4 X Write, and 24 X Max Read.

You can use standard CD-Recordable (CD-R) and CD-ReWritable (CD-RW) discs to organize and archive files without cluttering up you hard drive. CDs are an efficient way to transport and exchange files. The tech specs are 650 MB/74 minutes (audio) -un formatted. Data transfer Record 0.6 MB / sec, Write 0.6 MB / sec and read up to 3.6 MB / sec. Buffer memory 2 MB and discs are warranted up to 5 years.

(Internal E-IDE CD-RW Drive for PC, "The lean mean cloning machine") Looking at another add-on unit Sony's Spr essa CRX 100 E / X, it plugs into the USB ports and bundles WIN 98 software. It can also be plugged into a PC's parallel port (slow, conflict-prone, generally a bad idea). But none of these programs can avoid the fundamental hazard of CD burning. Because a single glitch in recording turns the disc into an unreadable "coaster", good only to rest a drink on, you " re supposed to perform a test write to verify that your hardware can keep up. This doubles the 12-15 minutes it should take to write a disc at 4 x speed-unless the test write fails, in which case you must step down to 2 x, test that speed, then write the disc. It's time consuming, but at least you can get the hang of it after a few tries.

Things are much worse when it comes to working with CD RWs. This is too bad, since RW discs could be a great backup solution: They cost on $10 or so individually, they " re durable as heck and almost all current computers can read them. (Older CD-ROM drives, as well as almost all-audio CD players, lack the circuitry required for discs.) The problem I that the most common CDreording programs-titles like TOAST, Easy CD Creator, Hot burn and Describe-are geared toward traditional, write once CD burning; using them on a CD-RW creates multiple "sessions" of data, one for each set of files copied onto the disc. The answer is a "packet writing' utility, such as Adaptec;'s Directed, which lets you treat an RW disc just like a hard drive, dragging files to and from it in Windows Explorer. But not all drives include a packet-writing program; you can buy on e separately, but make sure it supports your derive first.

And to get an otherwise CD-RW-fluent CD-ROM drive to read packet written discs, you " ll also need a "UDF (Universal Disc Format) reader" utility. Once you have the right tools, budget another 45 minutes to format an RW disc for packet writing. The logical thin to do would be to sell re writable discs pre-formatted for such use, but oops, nobody does that here such discs are sold in Japan. Burning Your Own CDs: Reading and Writing, The Washington Post, July 30, 1999; Rob Pegoraro. Network Storage If you " re looking for a way to share files on your small office network, or want to give users an easy method to back up their PCs, a new generation of plug-and-play network appliances lets you add network storage almost instantly. Two were tested: a pre production version of Intel's 12 GB In Business Storage Station ($999, or $1399 for 24 GB) and a shipping 20 GB Net Gear Network Disk Drive ($1299, or $799 for 8 GB).

Both units (each about the size of a notebook PC) lived up to their respective vendor's claims of no-brain er installation: Each can be up and running in about 10 minutes. You " ll need a TCP / IP network. A setup program you can run on any system on your network makes the drives accessible to the entire network. You then install a small utility on each network computer that maps it to a normal drive letter, and you " re ready to use them like any hard drive. The performance of the two units was essentially identical: fast.

On a 100-m bps network, it took 2 minutes and 15 seconds to copy 230 MB of mixed files from my PC to each network drive -- exactly as long as it took to copy the same files to a different drive within my PC. The boxes also work with 10-m bps networks, but obviously more slowly. At $58 to $100 per gigabyte of storage, these drives cost a lot less than a new server but considerably more than typical high-performance hard drives, which run about $18 per GB. But if you want to be up and running in minutes, network drives are the way to go. For most users, Intel's box edges out Net Gear's, with slightly lower cost per MB and the useful Second Copy utility. (Quick Storage for Small-Business Networ ks by Stan Miastkowski, October, 1999.) RAID disk arrays are fast and becoming impressively large, they offer nothing close to the storage capacity of the various tape media.

(RAID format is for Macintosh) The massive explosion of LAN's not to mention the Internet, has created many more ways for data to be pushed around. This has driven up the amount of data generated electronically, which, again, creates more incentive to capture the information. Enterprises must now store terabytes of data. e.g. (Tape is staging a comeback by Sean Dugan, Infoworld, October 26, 1998) RAID is an acronym that refers to 'Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks,' often abbreviated as 'an array. ' Using multiple drives, it is possible to create volumes that distribute data across several drives. The reasons for doing so include speed, data security, and data volume capacity. While individual mechanisms in an array, meaning individual drives, all hold data from a volume created using one of the forms of RAID, no single drive holds all the data in the volume.

Even though you may have up to thirty drives in an array, it is an option to stripe or mirror them into one logical unit, meaning one Macintosh, mounting on your desktop. Of course, you can always partition, if multiple volumes are more useful for your particular application. As mentioned, arrays are useful for two primary reasons: speed and data redundancy. One other useful aspect of RAID is that it is possible to create very large volumes: we have ourselves built 288 GB arrays using eight 36 GB, LVD drives, striped into one logical volume. (Mac-Gurus, SCSI Pages of Doom, May, 1999.) SAN Storage Area Networks are designed to provide robust, fault-tolerant storage for mission-critical data. SANs provide faster backup, less network congestion, and improved us of storage systems.

The SAN concept is relatively new and involves migrating traditional storage modes, such as online disk and tape library systems for legacy SCSI architecture to fiber channel networks relying on switches and hubs. SANs are developing just as local area networks developed, starting with homogeneous NAS Network-Attached Storage also called Power Vault filers, designed to off-load file access functions from front-end servers by storing and serving files directly of clients. It allows you to off-load servers from data so they can run applications more efficiently the advantages of a NAS includes the capability to remain OS-agnostic due to the fact that it runs its own embedded file system. Enabling the storage and retrieval of data from a variety of client-side operating systems. Prices start at $26,500. "Dell offers NAS as second prong to storage strategy", by Michael Lat tig Info World, May 3, 1999 Matching the appropriate storage technology to an application has always been a balancing act between cost, performance, and capacity.

As technology improves, hard disks get cheaper, and new optical technologies are introduce, you will be able to tailor an ideal storage system from cheaper media with greater capacities. Backup Software Disaster recovery can be one of the worst computing nightmares you can ever experience. It's no secret that failed hard disks can wreak havoc on a business in no time To protect yourself, you simply must perform regularly scheduled backups, but doing so can often become tedious work, especially in larger network environments. Seagate Software's Backup Exec for Windows NT, Version 7.0, makes the chore of obtaining accurate and up-to-date backups, as well as quick recovery from failure, almost painless. For sites with both Windows NT and Net Ware servers -- quite common these days -- Backup Exec can go a long way toward securing a company's vital information. One of the most impressive features in this release is the Intelligent Disaster Recovery (IDR) option.

IDR provides NT with the capability of automatically recovering an entire system upon failure. Of course, the catch is that it only works if you have an up-to-date, full backup of that particular system. IDR works by first creating a set of recovery diskettes for each NT system, either Version 3.51 or 4.0, that you want protected, and then creating a full backup set of that particular system's disk subsystems. The four diskettes created by IDR are incredibly similar in content to original NT installation diskettes, which are sometimes created during an installation of NT. The main difference in Backup Exec's diskettes and the NT install diskettes obviously is content. Backup Exec adds additional machine-specific information to the diskettes so they can be used to reboot the system upon failure and initiate a complete system recovery.

Businesses will find creating and using IDR disks painless work, facilitated by an easy-to-use wizard. When a system fails, a simple wizard is used to guide the user through complete system recovery. Using IDR to restore a dead system can truly be as easy as inserting a diskette, powering up the machine, and switching media when prompted to do so. With careful planning and proper equipment, failed systems can be recovered incredibly easily. It is interesting to note that a derivative of this feature is included in Windows NT 5.0 and Windows 98 also includes a similar type of Seagate disaster recovery. There are many other mighty features; one of the most impressive is the Remote Administrator.

As the name suggests, it allows remote administration of Backup Exec servers. This version of Backup Exec also includes an agent Accelerator, which includes agents for Microsoft SQL Server and Exchange Server; a Net Ware agent; an IBM Ad star Distributed Storage Manager (A DSM) option called Crystal Reports, and device pooling. The Agent Accelerator offers two advantages; compression and reduced network chatter. B compressing a remote client's data before sending it to the backup server, Backup Exec can often times cut down on bandwidth usage depending on the data being compressed. Another feature in this release is device spooling. This allows the user to define groups of devices that can then be used for fail-over backup operations.

So now, instead of telling Backup Exec to back up data to a specific devise, you can tell it to back up a device group instead. This way, if a particular device should fail for some reason, another device in the group can automatically perform the necessary backup operations instead. Overall, the software is very easy to use and understand, and it is incredibly powerful in ifs capability to create a fail-safe environment. Anyone relying on computer systems to store and manage sensitive ore mission-critical information should definitely consider Backup Exec as a strong contender on the short list. Backup Exec for Window NT boast slew of powerful features coupled with ease of use.

(Mark Joseph Edwards, Infoworld, September, 1997.) Backup Principles Backing up your data to a data cartridge provides you with the ability to restore information quickly and with confidence to the point you were before data loss. Most tape manufacturers recommend the backup procedure outlined below as a means of maintaining you valuable data. The weekly backup principle requires both weekly and daily backups to provide a complete data history. Weekly backups are full backups, whereas daily backups are incremental backups. Because incremental backups typically require less storage capacity then full backups, Sony recommends QIC-WIC cartridges for incremental back-ups and TRANVAN cartridges for full backup.

This cost-effective back-up principle works as follows Step 1: Label each of TRAVAN cartridges with FRI #1, FRI #2. Step 2: Label each of 4 QIC-WIDE cartridges with MON, TUE, WED, and THUR. Step 3: Start the cycle on a Friday and back up the entire hard disk onto the TRAVAN cartridge FRI #1. This is a full back up of your system. Step 4: On Monday, take the QIC-WIDE cartridge MON and back up on the files that were created or updated since the last backup (FRI #1). This is an incremental back up.

Step 5: Repeat Step #4 on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday using the corresponding data cartridges. Step 6: On Friday, take the TRAVAN cartridge FRI #2 and do a full backup. You " ve just completed a full rotation of the weekly principle. Step 7: The weekly process continues by repeating Step 3 and Step 4 using the same QIC-WIDE cartridges MON, TUE, WED, THU. Step 5 is implemented by alternating TRAVAN cartridges FRI #1 and FRI #2. Power Failures It's sometimes hard to see the benefit of protecting your computer equipment from power outages and surges.

The possibility of future disaster never seems to justify the money you have to spend until you experience one of those disasters and lose precious data. When disaster plans fall short, Neil Plot nick, September, 1999, indicates that the major problem with planning for disaster recovery is the unique circumstances that arise when a real disaster occurs. No matter how comprehensive your preparation and tests, there is always the chance that something unexpected will crop up, requiring an instant new solution. Much of the excitement in IT comes via computer triage.

This is the urgent assessments of system crashes or other failures and the application of solutions to meet these problems. As with any type of insurance, it's hard to see the benefit of protecting your computer equipment from power outages and surges. The possibility of future disaster never seems to justify the dough you have to shell out right here, right now -- until you experience one of these disasters and lose precious data. But take a look at APC's latest top-of-the-line workstation uninterruptible power supply, the Back-UPS Pro 500, and you " ll have no more excuses for not protecting your system.

The smart-looking device gives you 500 VA of output power with a replaceable battery and surge protection, plus controlled Windows 98 shutdown capabilities, for a reasonable street price of $260. The Back-UPS Pro is also exceptionally simple to set up, has a host of ease-of-use features, and offers connectivity to your PC via the Universal Serial Bus port. The seven AC outlets are easily accessed on the unit's top surface, which is sloped to keep AC cords out of the way. Four of the outlets provide surge protection and battery backup and can be shut off through the unit's main power switch. The other three outlets are un switched and provide surge protection but no battery backup.

RJ-11 jacks for telephone line surge protections are located on the back. When the battery begins to run low during a power failure, the UPS will send a signal to the software to shut down Windows 98 safely and automatically, preventing most data loss. Only unsaved documents in open programs will be lost. (PCWorld Magazine, This affordable uninterruptible power supply is easy to use and features USB connectivity by Jon L. Jacobi, June 8, 1999.) Jan Hayden Questions 1. CD-Recordable (CD-R) and Cd-Rewritable (CD-RW) drives can copy.

1.44 mbB. 650 mbC. 120 mbD. none of the above 2. After the initial outlay for the drive, you " ll be faced with the cost of Buying a beer for PackyMediaRepairWiring 3. What if the cheapest per-unit media? A. CD-Disks. Zip Drive Disks.

Tape Media. Floppy Disks 4. What is the best choice when speed and capacity matter or archival longevity is key? A. Tape Drives. DAT Drives. MO Drives. Jaz Drives 5.

Matching the appropriate storage technology to an application is a balancing act between A. cost, performance, and capacity. what you like and what you can afford. what Packy recommends and what you want. What your boss tells you to buy 6. To protect your documents from havoc, you simply must performA. Regular maintenance on your PCB. regularly scheduled backups, C. format your hard drive regularly. Spellchecker 7.

Most tape manufacturers recommend A. You switch tapes regularly. You do a combination of full backups and incremental backups. You rely on your hard drives. You pray that nothing will happen to your work 8. Incremental backups typically require capacity then full backups? A. More storage. Less storage.

The same storage. None of the above 9. Spend a bit more money to protect the data withA. Removable storage, a simple backup scheme, and a decent electric power protection. B. A better PC and a ZIP Drives. Calling in a good electrician D. Cat 5 wiring and a Network Technician 10. Super-floppy drives use.

120 MB SuperDiskB. 1.44 Floppy Disks. CD-R Disks. Both A and Jan Hayden Questions 11.

1.44 mbF. 650 mb. 120 mbH. none of the above 12. After the initial outlay for the drive, you " ll be faced with the cost ofA. Buying a beer for PackyMediaB.

Repair Wiring 13. What if the cheapest per-unit media? E. CD-Disks. Zip Drive Disks. Tape Media.

Floppy Disks 14. What is the best choice when speed and capacity matter or archival longevity is key? E. Tape Drives. DAT Drives. MO Drives. Jaz Drives 15.

Matching the appropriate storage technology to an application is a balancing act between E. cost, performance, and capacity. what you like and what you can afford. what Packy recommends and what you want. What your boss tells you to buy 16. To protect your documents from havoc, you simply must perform. Regular maintenance on your PCF. regularly scheduled backups, G. format your hard drive regularly. Spellchecker 17.

Most tape manufacturers recommend E. You switch tapes regularly. You pray that nothing will happen to your work 18. Incremental backups typically require capacity then full backups? E. More storage. Less storage. The same storage. None of the above 19.

Spend a bit more money to protect the data withE. Removable storage, a simple backup scheme, and a decent electric power protection. F. A better PC and a ZIP Drives. Calling in a good electrician H. Cat 5 wiring and a Network Technician 20. Super-floppy drives use. 120 MB SuperDiskF. 1.44 Floppy Disks.

CD-R Disks. Both A and B.