Omega Owners Forum

Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: TheBoy on 08 January 2007, 19:54:17

Title: Computer storage/backup
Post by: TheBoy on 08 January 2007, 19:54:17
I had to go to Derby today to build a server.  As it was doing its automated build, I was obviously a bit bored, and once I was bored of the games on my PDA, it got me pondering about the backup robot I was leaning against.  So I did a bit of maths and after a few guestimates, I reckon that robot could be loaded with 600TB of tapes at any one time. Thats 600TB native - hardware compression is usually 2:1, so 1.2PB.  What the hell do people need this amount of storage for  :-?

So then I started thinking about computers - the server I was building had 32 DIMM slots, each filled with a 1GB module....

Even consumer stuff, you'll struggle to buy a PC with less than 160Gb drive....

Before computers, where did we keep all this info?  And is it progress?
Title: Re: Computer storage/backup
Post by: Bo Bo on 08 January 2007, 20:04:04
& we still push around forest loads of paper at work  :-?
Title: Re: Computer storage/backup
Post by: tunnie on 08 January 2007, 20:06:55
got about a TB of storage here spread across all my external drives and PC's ..

Video editing takes up huge amounts these days, in my classes we were talking about the compression needed for HD TV ... you need 100's GB's for just a few minites of video!
Title: Re: Computer storage/backup
Post by: Auto Addict on 08 January 2007, 20:09:02
I can remember when the whole of the armed forces stores were kept on punched cards......
Title: Re: Computer storage/backup
Post by: Taxi_Driver on 08 January 2007, 20:23:54
Quote
I had to go to Derby today to build a server.  As it was doing its automated build, I was obviously a bit bored, and once I was bored of the games on my PDA, it got me pondering about the backup robot I was leaning against.  So I did a bit of maths and after a few guestimates, I reckon that robot could be loaded with 600TB of tapes at any one time. Thats 600TB native - hardware compression is usually 2:1, so 1.2PB.  What the hell do people need this amount of storage for  :-?

So then I started thinking about computers - the server I was building had 32 DIMM slots, each filled with a 1GB module....

Even consumer stuff, you'll struggle to buy a PC with less than 160Gb drive....

Before computers, where did we keep all this info?  And is it progress?

But did the backup robot wave at you???

Can remember we could get the robot to move its picking arm around to clear window at the front and move it up and down.....like waving at you  ;)......carnt remember the make.....but used to amuse visitors  :D
Title: Re: Computer storage/backup
Post by: x25xe on 08 January 2007, 20:27:52
Quote
I had to go to Derby today to build a server.  As it was doing its automated build, I was obviously a bit bored, and once I was bored of the games on my PDA, it got me pondering about the backup robot I was leaning against.  So I did a bit of maths and after a few guestimates, I reckon that robot could be loaded with 600TB of tapes at any one time. Thats 600TB native - hardware compression is usually 2:1, so 1.2PB.  What the hell do people need this amount of storage for  :-?

So then I started thinking about computers - the server I was building had 32 DIMM slots, each filled with a 1GB module....

Even consumer stuff, you'll struggle to buy a PC with less than 160Gb drive....

Before computers, where did we keep all this info?  And is it progress?

Not mentioned this on here before, but I am a Network Admin, Windows I am afraid, (no MCSE or any qualifications - just learnt "on the job" so to speak.  Backup is a thing that always worries me.  At work I use Quantum 80Gb native 120Gb compressed device.  I have toyed with adding SANs and NASs to the network, but backing it up always brings me sharply to ground!

That sounds like one hell of a server you were building there!
Title: Re: Computer storage/backup
Post by: TheBoy on 08 January 2007, 20:32:40
Quote
Quote
I had to go to Derby today to build a server.  As it was doing its automated build, I was obviously a bit bored, and once I was bored of the games on my PDA, it got me pondering about the backup robot I was leaning against.  So I did a bit of maths and after a few guestimates, I reckon that robot could be loaded with 600TB of tapes at any one time. Thats 600TB native - hardware compression is usually 2:1, so 1.2PB.  What the hell do people need this amount of storage for  :-?

So then I started thinking about computers - the server I was building had 32 DIMM slots, each filled with a 1GB module....

Even consumer stuff, you'll struggle to buy a PC with less than 160Gb drive....

Before computers, where did we keep all this info?  And is it progress?

But did the backup robot wave at you???

Can remember we could get the robot to move its picking arm around to clear window at the front and move it up and down.....like waving at you  ;)......carnt remember the make.....but used to amuse visitors  :D
It was probably a bit busy to play like that, 100 LTO2 drives to services, it doesn't get too much rest, even during its quiet times during day...
Title: Re: Computer storage/backup
Post by: TheBoy on 08 January 2007, 20:35:29
Quote
got about a TB of storage here spread across all my external drives and PC's ..

Video editing takes up huge amounts these days, in my classes we were talking about the compression needed for HD TV ... you need 100's GB's for just a few minites of video!
Yes, but generally the sort of servers I'm dealing with aren't used for video editing/storage...

Probably about 1TB here, but that includes the MCE, and as you say, video can take up a lot...
Title: Re: Computer storage/backup
Post by: TheBoy on 08 January 2007, 20:40:54
Quote
Quote
I had to go to Derby today to build a server.  As it was doing its automated build, I was obviously a bit bored, and once I was bored of the games on my PDA, it got me pondering about the backup robot I was leaning against.  So I did a bit of maths and after a few guestimates, I reckon that robot could be loaded with 600TB of tapes at any one time. Thats 600TB native - hardware compression is usually 2:1, so 1.2PB.  What the hell do people need this amount of storage for  :-?

So then I started thinking about computers - the server I was building had 32 DIMM slots, each filled with a 1GB module....

Even consumer stuff, you'll struggle to buy a PC with less than 160Gb drive....

Before computers, where did we keep all this info?  And is it progress?

Not mentioned this on here before, but I am a Network Admin, Windows I am afraid, (no MCSE or any qualifications - just learnt "on the job" so to speak.  Backup is a thing that always worries me.  At work I use Quantum 80Gb native 120Gb compressed device.  I have toyed with adding SANs and NASs to the network, but backing it up always brings me sharply to ground!

That sounds like one hell of a server you were building there!
Most SANs allow you to split off a 3rd mirror if you need a 'snapshot' point in time backup, else standard file level type backups. NAS tends to be simpler, so file level only, same as local storage...

The server I was building was a fairly typical unix system for the stuff I do.  If you're familiar with Windows, that can now reach these sort of levels, though few applications scale up this well...
Title: Re: Computer storage/backup
Post by: Taxi_Driver on 08 January 2007, 20:51:59
Quote
Quote
Quote
I had to go to Derby today to build a server.  As it was doing its automated build, I was obviously a bit bored, and once I was bored of the games on my PDA, it got me pondering about the backup robot I was leaning against.  So I did a bit of maths and after a few guestimates, I reckon that robot could be loaded with 600TB of tapes at any one time. Thats 600TB native - hardware compression is usually 2:1, so 1.2PB.  What the hell do people need this amount of storage for  :-?

So then I started thinking about computers - the server I was building had 32 DIMM slots, each filled with a 1GB module....

Even consumer stuff, you'll struggle to buy a PC with less than 160Gb drive....

Before computers, where did we keep all this info?  And is it progress?

But did the backup robot wave at you???

Can remember we could get the robot to move its picking arm around to clear window at the front and move it up and down.....like waving at you  ;)......carnt remember the make.....but used to amuse visitors  :D
It was probably a bit busy to play like that, 100 LTO2 drives to services, it doesn't get too much rest, even during its quiet times during day...

True....and i am talking of a few years ago......when it used to only be busy at night doing backups....unless some asked for a restore during the day.....unless it busy then it was  [smiley=vrolijk_26.gif] when management wanted it  ::)
Title: Re: Computer storage/backup
Post by: Martin_1962 on 08 January 2007, 21:12:12
Video editing is a killer

One MiniDV holds about 13GB
Title: Re: Computer storage/backup
Post by: TheBoy on 08 January 2007, 21:18:26
Quote
Video editing is a killer

One MiniDV holds about 13GB
I agree media editing and storage does use space. But webservers and application servers?
Title: Re: Computer storage/backup
Post by: x25xe on 08 January 2007, 21:23:13
Quote
Video editing is a killer

One MiniDV holds about 13GB

It sure is, I edit in Premier Pro and you should see the way that eats space! (although Martin, you will already know this  ;))

Still, it beats assembly editing where I used to kneel in front of my Panasonic VTRs, hands down.  As they had good tape control mechanisms, I knew the amount of frames to wind back to get frame accurate cuts / inserts.

Off topic a bit and I apologise  ;)
Title: Re: Computer storage/backup
Post by: TheBoy on 08 January 2007, 21:25:21
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Off topic a bit and I apologise  ;)
Nah, this is General Chat, things are expected to go off at a tangent!
Title: Re: Computer storage/backup
Post by: x25xe on 08 January 2007, 21:25:53
Quote
Most SANs allow you to split off a 3rd mirror if you need a 'snapshot' point in time backup, else standard file level type backups. NAS tends to be simpler, so file level only, same as local storage...

The server I was building was a fairly typical unix system for the stuff I do.  If you're familiar with Windows, that can now reach these sort of levels, though few applications scale up this well...

To be honest, I would not even bother with Windows on those sort of levels as the apps will not scale as you say.  With the SANs and NAS, I would still need a large (and fast) tape device to back up so I just set quotas for the users.
Title: Re: Computer storage/backup
Post by: Martin_1962 on 08 January 2007, 21:29:21
Quote
Quote
Video editing is a killer

One MiniDV holds about 13GB
I agree media editing and storage does use space. But webservers and application servers?

Big forums use quite a bit of data. Not sure how big - what about ours even though it is still small


Databases - ours

Our biggest systems are only about 5-8GB and that is a fraction of the size of systems by our competitors and this is with one or two files over a million records
Title: Re: Computer storage/backup
Post by: TheBoy on 08 January 2007, 21:30:15
Quote
Quote
Most SANs allow you to split off a 3rd mirror if you need a 'snapshot' point in time backup, else standard file level type backups. NAS tends to be simpler, so file level only, same as local storage...

The server I was building was a fairly typical unix system for the stuff I do.  If you're familiar with Windows, that can now reach these sort of levels, though few applications scale up this well...

To be honest, I would not even bother with Windows on those sort of levels as the apps will not scale as you say.  With the SANs and NAS, I would still need a large (and fast) tape device to back up so I just set quotas for the users.
Certainly not where Windows' strength lies...  (currently)
Title: Re: Computer storage/backup
Post by: Admin on 08 January 2007, 21:33:26
You were in Derby? Where?

Could have met up for lunch...  :(
Title: Re: Computer storage/backup
Post by: TheBoy on 08 January 2007, 21:36:57
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You were in Derby? Where?

Could have met up for lunch...  :(
Alverston (or however you spell it) end, right on outskirts...
Title: Re: Computer storage/backup
Post by: stuart30 on 08 January 2007, 22:25:30
Quote
 So I did a bit of maths and after a few guestimates, I reckon that robot could be loaded with 600TB of tapes at any one time. Thats 600TB native - hardware compression is usually 2:1, so 1.2PB.  What the hell do people need this amount of storage for  :-?


Just ask the people i look after.....they put a strain on the electricty board the amount of power they need to use. ;D