I am responding to Jim Breyear's post concerning backup via a PC and
Hewlett-Packard - Colorado tape drive. The drives are OK mechanically, but
the backup software development has been out-sourced to Cheyenne Software.
That software -- Colorado Backup, Version 3.00.xxx -- is very, very buggy.
This is especially true of the drives that operate from a FD controller or
via the parallel port. The HP-Colorado tech support staff will tell you to
contact Cheyenne, since they assume that all the problems will be software
related. Conversely, the Cheyenne staff will refer you back to HP with
the diagnosis that the problem is with the hardware, firmware or cables.
(This assumes that you speak with a Cheyenne person who has more than a
rudimentary knowledge of the HP-Colorado product line. Apparently, Cheyenne
sub-contracts their tech support to yet another firm.) The tech support
from Cheyenne is the worst that I have ever experienced overall. To make
things even more interesting, HP-Colorado now charges serious money per
incident for each phone contact.
Until this experience, I always regarded Hewlett-Packard as the gold
standard for taking responsibility for their products -- no longer does this
appear to be the case.
--Bob Santini
Robert E. Santini, Director of Instrumentation
Department of Chemistry, BRWN-1393
Purdue University
W. Lafayette, IN 47907-1393
E-mail santini@chem.purdue.edu
Voice: (765) 494-5227
Facsimile: (765) 494-9388