RE: cd-r

Richard Shoemaker (rshoe@wwitch.unl.edu)
Wed, 28 Jan 1998 09:32:26 -0600

I have two CD-R drives, one Yamaha CDR-100 (4x/4x) and a Matushita =
(panasonic) CW-7502 4x/8x Write/Read
drive. I have been using this technology to backup _all_ of our data =
since mid-1995, and it has been the best
move we've ever made. Previously, we used a Tahiti-III rewriteable =
optical drive (which we still have), and it
is great in terms of speed and reliability; however, the cartridges are =
still around $90 each. I just bought 100
gold-recordable CDR disks for $3.00 each!! =20

I never investigated cdr software for my Suns because I have three =
Windows-NT workstations which all have
NFS connections to the Suns (I use Xlink's Omni-NFX/X for NT, which =
provides complete NFS server/client
support, in addition to a complete X-terminal package). As we stand, we =
can mount our Sun filesystems on
the PCs and vice-versa. Backing up the data on the Suns consists of =
drag-and-drop from any of the Windows-NT
systems. =20

For creating the CDs we had been using Adaptec's "Easy CD Creator =
Deluxe" software, but it's kind of lame.
We just purchased "GEAR" for Windows, which is rated as the best there =
is for the Windows NT environment.
It has tons of features, including track-by-track writing, so you can =
add tracks to a single disk up to 99 times
(so much for the old limitation for having to fill the entire disk at =
once). This software was $195. The box says that they support Windows, =
Macintosh, SunOS, SunSolaris, SGI-IRIX, DEC-OSF, HP-UX, so I think =
you're set for
whatever system you want to use. I think the UNIX versions are major =
$$$, and I prefer using the PCs with
NFS. Go to www.elektroson.com to get all of the info about the GEAR =
products...it's fantastic!

Going to CD-R is the best decision I've made regarding data =
storage/retrieval.

I hope this helps,

Rich Shoemaker
----
Richard Shoemaker, Ph.D. Phone--(402) 472-6255
Instrumentation Director, Chemistry FAX---- -6964
Research Associate Professor, Chemistry
University of Nebraska-Lincoln =20
URL: http://www.chem.unl.edu/nmrlab.html =20

-----Original Message-----
From: lew cary [SMTP:lcary@chem.unr.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 1998 6:48 PM
To: ammrl@wwitch.unl.edu
Subject: cd-r

I am considering a Yamaha cdr400TXPM for data archiving. We have zip and
dat also. But, I don't trust magnet media for long term (ie years)
storeage. Does anyone have cd-r experience? What brands do you like and =
is
software available for Sun systems? Cheers, Lew