[GTALUG] Advice -- Building Debian 8 PC To Replace Win XP PC;

[Steve Petrie, P.Eng.]

Hello Alvin,

Thanks for your response.

Please see my comments inline below.

Steve

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alvin Starr" <alvin at netvel.net>
To: "Steve Petrie, P.Eng." <apetrie at aspetrie.net>; "GTALUG Talk" 
<talk at gtalug.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2016 9:46 AM
Subject: Re: [GTALUG] Advice -- Building Debian 8 PC To Replace Win XP 
PC;


> Tape drives are hard to come by these days.
> Have you thought about a USB drive for backup?

I do plan to use portable USB drives for backup on the new Linux PC.

I did consider getting the portable USB drives now, and using them for 
backup on the existing Windows XP PC. However, I prefer not to mess 
around with changing the backup method on the Windows XP PC, since I 
plan to stop using it as soon as the new Linux PC is operational.

There are plenty of inexpensive used DDS-3 tape drives available e.g. on 
eBay, and from other sources.

> Or a NAS box.
> There are several inexpensive 1 and 2 drive NAS enclosures that you 
> can
> get to put on your local network.

As with the portable USB drive idea, I prefer not to complicate the 
Windows XP setup, by attaching new devices.

<snip>

> It may be worth looking into getting the drive fixed.
> I believe that Memofix(http://www.memofix.com/) will repair tape 
> drives.

Thanks for the tip !! I see they are a Canadian firm, so no 
border-crossing complications.

I will investigate further.

>
>
>
> On 08/09/2016 09:35 AM, Steve Petrie, P.Eng. via talk wrote:
>> Greetings To GTALUG Members,
>>
>> A setback has occurred in my project to acquire a new Linux PC.
>>
>> On the Windows XP PC that is going to be replaced by the new Linux 
>> PC,
>> the DDS-3 DAT SCSI tape drive has died, that does backup duty for the
>> HDD. Died too soon by only a couple of months -- !@#$%^&*(!!
>>
>> Since it could still take a few months for me to complete the
>> acquisition of and conversion to the new Linux PC, I am not going to
>> risk operating the Windows XP PC without regular HDD backup for so 
>> long.
>>
>> So, I need to source a replacement tape drive for the Windows XP PC,
>> before I can continue with acquisition of the new Linux PC.
>>
>> A soon as I have a replacement tape drive operating on the Windows XP
>> PC, I will resume the Linux PC acquisition project, and complete the
>> revisions to
>> the specification of components, per advice from GTALUG members.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Steve
>>
>> * * *
>>
>> Steve Petrie, P.Eng.
>>
>> ITS-ETO Consortium
>> Oakville, Ontario, Canada
>> (905) 847-3253
>> apetrie at aspetrie.net
>>
>> ---
>> Talk Mailing List
>> talk at gtalug.org
>> https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
>
> -- 
> Alvin Starr                   ||   voice: (905)513-7688
> Netvel Inc.                   ||   Cell:  (416)806-0133
> alvin at netvel.net              ||
>
>