Please explain compression on ntbackup with DDS3 tape drive

I was surprised when my backup (using WinXPPro ntbackup to a Seagate
Scorpion DDS 12/24 drive) using hardware compression (confirmed with
seagate utility) balked at wanting another tape while trying to backup
17.8G of data (3g of MPS's, quite a few jpgs and other files)

I thought it would easily fit on a 12/24 tape using hardware
compresison.

Is ntbackup **uncompressing** my mp3's onto tape??

Even with a 35% compression ratio I should still get 11.57 gig on
tape...

not getting it why it needs 2 tapes.

Someone enlighten me please

thanks

Susan
Tue Nov 11 21:13:25 CST 2003

MP3's and jpg's dont' compress too well.

It's another one of those lies of the computer industry. Count on no
more than a 1.5 times compression.... thus your 17.8 is right at that
borderline 18 gig limit.

Jeff Taylor wrote:

> I was surprised when my backup (using WinXPPro ntbackup to a Seagate
> Scorpion DDS 12/24 drive) using hardware compression (confirmed with
> seagate utility) balked at wanting another tape while trying to backup
> 17.8G of data (3g of MPS's, quite a few jpgs and other files)
>
> I thought it would easily fit on a 12/24 tape using hardware
> compresison.
>
> Is ntbackup **uncompressing** my mp3's onto tape??
>
> Even with a 35% compression ratio I should still get 11.57 gig on
> tape...
>
> not getting it why it needs 2 tapes.
>
> Someone enlighten me please
>
> thanks
>

--
"Don't lose sight of security. Security is a state of being,
not a state of budget. He with the most firewalls still does
not win. Put down that honeypot and keep up to date on your
patches. Demand better security from vendors and hold them
responsible. Use what you have, and make sure you know how
to use it properly and effectively."
~Rain Forest Puppy
http://www.wiretrip.net/rfp/txt/evolution.txt

James
Wed Nov 12 03:06:32 CST 2003

Susan Bradley, CPA aka Ebitz - SBS Rocks [MVP] wrote:
> MP3's and jpg's dont' compress too well.

.mp3 and .jpg files hardly compress at all. Try winzip or winrar and you'll
find that often an archive of these files archive is slightly bigger than
the original files themselves! A tape drive is the same....

James

markchampken
Wed Nov 12 06:54:53 CST 2003

I have had a similar situation, I am using HP dds-4 (40GB) and it
asked for a second tape and I only have 20gb of data.
"Susan Bradley, CPA aka Ebitz - SBS Rocks [MVP]" <sbradcpa@pacbell.net> wrote in message news:<#O3QVtMqDHA.1632@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl>...
> MP3's and jpg's dont' compress too well.
>
> It's another one of those lies of the computer industry. Count on no
> more than a 1.5 times compression.... thus your 17.8 is right at that
> borderline 18 gig limit.
>
> Jeff Taylor wrote:
>
> > I was surprised when my backup (using WinXPPro ntbackup to a Seagate
> > Scorpion DDS 12/24 drive) using hardware compression (confirmed with
> > seagate utility) balked at wanting another tape while trying to backup
> > 17.8G of data (3g of MPS's, quite a few jpgs and other files)
> >
> > I thought it would easily fit on a 12/24 tape using hardware
> > compresison.
> >
> > Is ntbackup **uncompressing** my mp3's onto tape??
> >
> > Even with a 35% compression ratio I should still get 11.57 gig on
> > tape...
> >
> > not getting it why it needs 2 tapes.
> >
> > Someone enlighten me please
> >
> > thanks
> >
>
> --
> "Don't lose sight of security. Security is a state of being,
> not a state of budget. He with the most firewalls still does
> not win. Put down that honeypot and keep up to date on your
> patches. Demand better security from vendors and hold them
> responsible. Use what you have, and make sure you know how
> to use it properly and effectively."
> ~Rain Forest Puppy
> http://www.wiretrip.net/rfp/txt/evolution.txt

Rick
Wed Nov 12 07:40:22 CST 2003

I have what I think is the same tape drive...and I've had nothing but
trouble with it since day one. Mostly that my tapes go to crap REAL quick.

Rick

"Jeff Taylor" <sax@sax.com> wrote in message
news:hk73rvolgdrjhcecmtcndh3ractd2p40bi@4ax.com...
> I was surprised when my backup (using WinXPPro ntbackup to a Seagate
> Scorpion DDS 12/24 drive) using hardware compression (confirmed with
> seagate utility) balked at wanting another tape while trying to backup
> 17.8G of data (3g of MPS's, quite a few jpgs and other files)
>
> I thought it would easily fit on a 12/24 tape using hardware
> compresison.
>
> Is ntbackup **uncompressing** my mp3's onto tape??
>
> Even with a 35% compression ratio I should still get 11.57 gig on
> tape...
>
> not getting it why it needs 2 tapes.
>
> Someone enlighten me please
>
> thanks
>

Dave
Wed Nov 12 09:27:18 CST 2003

I haven't had a statistically significant amount of experience with tape
drives, but I can tell you that the one DDS drive I had a lot of problems
with (tapes failing prematurely, drive died prematurely) was a Seagate. I
run a cleaning tape once a week, and replace the tapes once a year whether
they're complaining or not (26 backups). I believe that the general rule of
thumb is to replace tapes after a year of weekly use, in which case I could
go 2 years, but that Seagate often failed tapes in less than 26 uses. At
around $8 for a DDS4 tape, I'd rather be safe than sorry.


"Rick Bond" <bond_1973@nospamhotmail.com> wrote in message
news:vr4e2ekimitr83@corp.supernews.com...
> I have what I think is the same tape drive...and I've had nothing but
> trouble with it since day one. Mostly that my tapes go to crap REAL
quick.
>
> Rick
>
> "Jeff Taylor" <sax@sax.com> wrote in message
> news:hk73rvolgdrjhcecmtcndh3ractd2p40bi@4ax.com...
> > I was surprised when my backup (using WinXPPro ntbackup to a Seagate
> > Scorpion DDS 12/24 drive) using hardware compression (confirmed with
> > seagate utility) balked at wanting another tape while trying to backup
> > 17.8G of data (3g of MPS's, quite a few jpgs and other files)
> >
> > I thought it would easily fit on a 12/24 tape using hardware
> > compresison.
> >
> > Is ntbackup **uncompressing** my mp3's onto tape??
> >
> > Even with a 35% compression ratio I should still get 11.57 gig on
> > tape...
> >
> > not getting it why it needs 2 tapes.
> >
> > Someone enlighten me please
> >
> > thanks
> >
>
>

Jeff
Wed Nov 12 14:24:19 CST 2003

OK that's what I thought, natively I had pushed beyond the 12g limit
and nothing could be compressed further....thanks Susan

Jeff

On Tue, 11 Nov 2003 19:13:25 -0800, "Susan Bradley, CPA aka Ebitz -
SBS Rocks [MVP]" <sbradcpa@pacbell.net> wrote:

>MP3's and jpg's dont' compress too well.
>
>It's another one of those lies of the computer industry. Count on no
>more than a 1.5 times compression.... thus your 17.8 is right at that
>borderline 18 gig limit.

Javier
Wed Nov 12 14:37:58 CST 2003

As Jeff Middleton once told me...

"DDS drives get funky if you let them get gunky"

So make sure you are cleaning them regularly :-)

--
-Javier

<< SBS ROCKS !!! >>


"Dave Nickason" <gwdibble@NOSPAM.frontiernet.net> wrote in message
news:%23X0t3FTqDHA.2312@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> I haven't had a statistically significant amount of experience with tape
> drives, but I can tell you that the one DDS drive I had a lot of problems
> with (tapes failing prematurely, drive died prematurely) was a Seagate. I
> run a cleaning tape once a week, and replace the tapes once a year whether
> they're complaining or not (26 backups). I believe that the general rule
of
> thumb is to replace tapes after a year of weekly use, in which case I
could
> go 2 years, but that Seagate often failed tapes in less than 26 uses. At
> around $8 for a DDS4 tape, I'd rather be safe than sorry.
>
>
> "Rick Bond" <bond_1973@nospamhotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:vr4e2ekimitr83@corp.supernews.com...
> > I have what I think is the same tape drive...and I've had nothing but
> > trouble with it since day one. Mostly that my tapes go to crap REAL
> quick.
> >
> > Rick
> >
> > "Jeff Taylor" <sax@sax.com> wrote in message
> > news:hk73rvolgdrjhcecmtcndh3ractd2p40bi@4ax.com...
> > > I was surprised when my backup (using WinXPPro ntbackup to a Seagate
> > > Scorpion DDS 12/24 drive) using hardware compression (confirmed with
> > > seagate utility) balked at wanting another tape while trying to backup
> > > 17.8G of data (3g of MPS's, quite a few jpgs and other files)
> > >
> > > I thought it would easily fit on a 12/24 tape using hardware
> > > compresison.
> > >
> > > Is ntbackup **uncompressing** my mp3's onto tape??
> > >
> > > Even with a 35% compression ratio I should still get 11.57 gig on
> > > tape...
> > >
> > > not getting it why it needs 2 tapes.
> > >
> > > Someone enlighten me please
> > >
> > > thanks
> > >
> >
> >
>
>