Introduction
Backing up data is something we all know that must be done, but very seldom get onto actually doing it. Taking a real life situation, this is something that happened to a very close colleague of mine. It was Sunday night and he was finalizing his presentation to win a million dollar project for his company. Things were going smoothly and when he was about to print everything his PC crashed with no reason at all. (Windows normally doesn't need any reason to crash now does it? ) Thinking it's a normal software glitch he rebooted the system, only to find out the FAT32 partition of his hard drive completely corrupted. I know as a fact that there are countless number of people who have gone through this nightmare at some point.
So what's the most simple thing we all forget to do? Backup of course. Having the right hardware and backing up your data is something we all must take very seriously and do it at every instance possible.
Since most average hard drive size today range from 20GB - 80GB it's no longer feasible to have a mere 250MB backup tape drive. This is where Onstream Data come into the picture. Incorporated in 1998 Onstream data's product lineup is no doubt one of the most successful backup tape drive products in the market. So far we have looked at two of their highly sort after drives, the ADR2 60GB Digital Tape Drive and the ECHO 30 USB Storage Drive. The great highlight of Onstream Data's products is that they're able to provide highly reliable and effective back-up devices at a far less price than its competition.
Today we look at one of their newest additions, the ADR2 60GB USB External Tape Drive, which will no doubt prove to be a great hit in the server as well as home user markets. Firstly let us take a look at the specifications of the drive.
Specifications
| General Characteristics | ADR2.60ide | ADR2.60usb | ADR2.60Si | ADR2.60Se | ||||
| Cartridge Compatibility* | ADR2.60C | ADR2.60C | ADR2.60C | ADR2.60C | ||||
| Interface | IDE | USB2.0 | Wide, Ultra2 Compatible SCSI-3 LVD/SE | Wide, Ultra2 Compatible SCSI-3 LVD/SE | ||||
| Configuration | internal | external | internal | external | ||||
| Tape Width | 0.315in / 8mm | 0.315in / 8mm | 0.315in / 8mm | 0.315in / 8mm | ||||
| Number of Tracks | 384 | 384 | 384 | 384 | ||||
| Performance | ADR2.60ide | ADR2.60usb | ADR2.60Si | ADR2.60Se | ||||
| Compressed Capacity (2:1) | 60GB | 60GB | 60GB | 60GB | ||||
| Transfer Rate (native) | up to 2.5 MB/s or 9 GB/hr | up to 2.5 MB/s or 9 GB/hr | up to 4 MB/s or 14.4 GB/hr | up to 4 MB/s or 14.4 GB/hr | ||||
| Transfer Rate (with software controlled datacompression) | up to 5 MB/s | up to 5 MB/s | up to 8 MB/s | up to 8 MB/s | ||||
| Read/Write Speed | 11 ips to 56 ips continuously variable | 11 ips to 56 ips continuously variable | 16 ips to 88 ips continuously variable | 16 ips to 88 ips continuously variable | ||||
| Search Speed | 75 ips | 75 ips | 90 ips | 90 ips | ||||
| Data Reliability | ADR2.60ide | ADR2.60usb | ADR2.60Si | ADR2.60Se | ||||
| Bit Error Rate | 1 in 1019 | 1 in 1019 | 1 in 1019 | 1 in 1019 | ||||
| Drive MTBF | 400,000 hours | 400,000 hours | 400,000 hours | 400,000 hours | ||||
| Warranty | 2 years | 2 years | 3 years | 3 years | ||||
| Physical Specifications | ADR2.60ide | ADR2.60usb | ADR2.60Si | ADR2.60Se | ||||
| 41 x 147 x 180 1.6 x 5.8 x 7.1 | 73 x 208 x 292 2.88 x 8.19 x 11.5 | 41 x 147 x 229 1.6 x 5.8 x 9.1 | 73 x 208 x 292 2.88 x 8.19 x 11.5 | ||||
| 0.8 kg 1.77 lbs | 2.6 kg 6 lbs | 0.8 kg 1.77 lbs | 2.6 kg 6 lbs | ||||
| Power Requirements | ADR2.60ide | ADR2.60usb | ADR2.60Si | ADR2.60Se | ||||
| Voltage | DC 5V +/- 5% DC 12V +/-10% | AC 100-240V | DC 5V +/- 5% DC 12V +/-10% | AC 100-240V | ||||
| Power Consumption | 12 watts nominal | 23 watts nominal | 12 watts nominal | 23 watts nominal | ||||
| Environmental | ADR2.60ide | ADR2.60usb | ADR2.60Si | ADR2.60Se | ||||
| Operating Temperature | 10 degrees to 40 degrees celsius 50 degrees to 104 degrees fahrenheit | |||||||
| Operating Relative Humidity | 20% to 80% non-condensing | |||||||
| Agency Certifications | FCC Class B, UL, CSA, CE | |||||||
All information and specifications are subject to change at anytime without notice.
The capacity, backup speed and transfer rate will vary with file and system configuration.
* ADR cartridges sold separately
The ADR2. 60USB drive is considerably larger in comparison to the internal ADR2 60ide drive. Other than that, there's not much difference between them. I was really impressed by the commitment Onstream takes to ensure that their products arrive safely at its destination. It was so well packaged, unless due to an act of god, the drive would surely not sustain any physical damage during transit to your location.
As for installing the drive, it's merely a matter of hooking up the USB cable to the computer. First power up the drive with the supplied power cord, then hook up the USB cable. We tested the drive on a Windows XP professional platform and the drive was detected automatically. Thereafter simply insert the driver CD provided and windows will do everything else. One thing I hope Onstream will look into however, is having a more comprehensive manual.
What's included
Opening up the box, you're offered the following components;
- ADR2 60USB Digital Tape Drive
- Installation manual
- USB Cable
- 60GB ADR cartridge ( This will have to be purchased separately, even though Onstream included a cartridge along with our drive)
- Power Cable
- TapeWare Extended Edition CD
Summary of Drive's features
- 60GB / 30GB capacity (compressed/native)
- Up to 18 GB/hour (5 MB/sec) data transfer rate with software controlled data compression
- Compatible with Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Professional, Server, Advanced Server and XP Home and Professional
- Hot plugable USB2.0 high speed interface (compatible with USB1.1 interface, performance limited to USB1.1 speed)
- Uses 60GB ADR2 cartridges (separately available)
- Live Software package Yosemite TapeWare XE included. Supports Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Professional, Server, Advanced Server and XP Home and Professional
- ADR2 media features a unique mid-tape directory to cut access times in half
- 2-year warranty
ADR Technology
This is a copy from ADR2 60ide drive we compiled a few months ago.
"Advanced Digital Recording (ADR) is an all-new, variable speed, digital tape storage solution. Initially developed by Philips Electronics and protected by 61 patents (including pending), ADR is based on revolutionary 8-channel array technology that allows the solid-state design to read and write eight tracks of data simultaneously.
This technological breakthrough delivers exceptional transfer rates and data reliability while maximizing media life and minimizing audible noise.
An advanced embedded servo system contributes to high data reliability in two ways. First, it communicates with the head to assure media integrity as it writes data. This is an innovative way to avoid media defects and assure original data is written correctly. Secondly, the servo system prevents the tape from wandering off track, which could make the data unreadable in the future.
OnStream's unique ability to read or write all eight tracks of data simultaneously provides the opportunity to spatially distribute error correction code - both horizontally and vertically.
ADR eight channel
read/write head
This greatly enhances the chances for data recovery versus other technologies that use only horizontal methods. The result is a reliability specification of only one unreadable bit in every 1019 bits recorded. That's 10,000 times better than the PC's primary data storage device, the hard drive.
ADR drives employ continuously variable speeds between .5 and 2 MB/sec (with software controlled data compression up to 5MB/sec), making them capable of adjusting to the constantly changing data rate of the system. This feature, acting like a dimmer switch as it accepts data, also helps to decrease wear and noise"
As mentioned before the ADR2 60USB drive is considerably larger to the ADR2 60ide drive. Since this is an external drive, it also includes its own power supply built in, which accounts for the large size of the drive.
The drive has the same loading mechanism as in the ADR2 60ide drive. Remember not to force the cartridge in, once you start to feel some resistance while inserting the cartridge, simply press on the open/close button and it'll take the cartridge in. Once the cartridge is in, you'll hear the cartridge rewind & fast forward. This is normal and nothing to be alarmed about.
If you're new to tape drives you should be aware of how they access data. Tape drives are unable to access data randomly as it does with hard drives. Tape drives are only able to access data sequentially, making them considerably slower to normal drives, and furthermore tape drives have to constantly rewind and fast forward the tape to find the appropriate position to write data. ( it's exactly like the operation of a conventional VHS cassette).
Nevertheless the ADR2 60USB tape drive is supposed to have a native data transfer rate of around 2.5MB/sec which goes up to 5MB/sec with software compression. (performance analysis will be done next) Even though tape drives are slower can conventional hard drives, they provide far better reliability. As in ADR2 60USB it has a bit error rate of 1 in 10 to the power 19. This is far superior to a PC's hard drive without doubt.
Another feature to be aware of is that, when the ADR2 60USB drive is in idle for more than 5 minutes, you'll notice the drive bay of the tape drive opening slightly. When asked from Onstream, the reason they gave is as follows;
"the cartridge door is slightly opened after a few minutes of no use with a cartridge loaded in the mechanism. The drive's firmware puts the mechanism in a "pause" position in case of no use. The reason for that is to avoid the drive roller being constantly in contact and the magnetic media is constantly tighten around the head. These measures are taken as a further improvement of the system. The ADR2.60ide behaves in the same way, due to the fact that the movement is not sensor controlled a slight difference in movement can be observed between the drives."
The ADR2 60USB has been designed to also support the new USB 2.0 standard for even faster transfer rates. Onstream does not provide the data cartridge with the purchase of the ADR2 60USB drive, and it has to be purchased separately. The 60GB cartridges are priced at around US$70 which works out to be US$1.17 = 1GB. (The 60GB capacity is obtained assuming a 2:1 compression ratio). The cheapest price I found for the cartridge was US$62 or US$175 for a pack of three, which is without doubt one of the cheapest storage mediums, and it's certainly nice to see Onstream keeping the price of these cartridges very reasonable.
Every Onstream ADR2 60USB drive comes with Yosemite Technology's "TapeWare XE" backup software. The package also includes Disaster Recovery for Windows providing you with a total backup solution. The total software package is of US$720 value and is provided free of charge with every purchase of one of these drives.
TapeWare XE is extremely user friendly and very complicated tasks can be done simply by a click of a button. It uses a common windows interface and gives you the option to either backup your whole machine or back up specific files.
On the initial browsing of the TapeWare XE software most of you might consider it to be quite a basic software package. However hidden behind this simple interface lies a very powerful software waiting for the right person to harness its full raw power. If you're just a home user wanting this drive, most of these advanced features will interest you, and won't prove to be worthwhile anyway. However for a network environment, these features are invaluable.
Unfortunately we cannot go into detail on this much, however one of the main advanced features I use is the schedule. Here's a picture of the process.
This provides you automatic scheduled backups and also allows you to choose the type of backup that needs to be performed daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. This feature is something any user of this software really make use of. It seems as if both the ADR2 60USB drive and the TapeWare XE software are working in perfect unison to each other. It's so very impressive. If you're interested in learning all the advanced features TapeWare XE offers, the CD also comes with a 340 page .pdf file which details out all these features in great detail.
The additionally included disaster recovery feature is impressive as well, and I would recommend everyone to use it so that in the event something drastic goes wrong, you have an available copy of your machine. It's pretty much the same as Norton ghost, but with a different interface and layout.
There are a range of security features as well which are essential for network environments. Setting up user permission levels, setting grace logon periods and various other authentication features are available.
Performance of the drive turned out to be pretty much as specified by the manufacture. We used the following test system to measure the drive's performance.
| Processor | Athlon XP 1.8GHz |
| Motherboard | SOYO KT333 Dragon Ultra |
| Memory | 256MB Crucial PC 2700 DDR SDRAM |
| Hard Drive | IBM 75GXP 60GB - ATA 100 |
| Operating System | Windows XP Professional |
| Motherboard USB Drivers | SOYO USB 2.0 Driverv2.0.2 |
The TapeWare XE provides a graphical view of the operating speed of the drive. Once you turn on the ADR2 60USB drive, it takes around 10-15 seconds to initialize. Thereafter you're ready for action. In some instances if you have specified to format the cartridge it'll take a bit longer before the actual data backing up process starts. The following table shows the tests we carried out and the time taken.
File size | Time Taken | Speed (MB/sec) |
| 3GB of various utility programs downloaded from the web | 24 min | 2.1MB/sec |
| 20GB of Program files | 2hrs 42 min | 2.31MB/sec |
Below is a screen capture of another test where we were backing up some program files. As you can see, in both instances the drive performs close to 2MB/sec or over.
Performance of the drive is without doubt very impressive indeed. Most tape drives out there hardly go beyond the 1MB/sec mark and if you want to go higher, the cost is heartbreaking. I do not know how Onstream does it, but the price they offer these tape drives are simply amazing. Most other tape drives with similar functionality are priced well over US$1000, so these drives are unquestionably a great bargain.
With data compression we were able to get the speed up to around 4.1MB/sec but in all of the tests we did, we weren't able to reach 5MB/sec. Nevertheless it's still extremely impressive.
Evaluating the performance and features of the ADR2 60USB drive it can be seen that this drive would be an ideal solution for entry level servers and workstations. It features very impressive performance, high data reliability, extremely powerful server backup software and disaster recovery, so what more can you really ask for? The ADR2 60USB can be found for around US$650 excluding the cartridge which has to be purchased separately. $650 may sound like a lot of money for some, however what you must consider is that, you're purchasing a 60GB USB tape drive, not just some lame zip drive. Added to the package is the TapeWare XE server backup software, which alone is valued at $720. Considering all these, the ADR2 60USB is undoubtedly one of the best priced tape drives you can find in the market.
This is an era where portability of a product stands out a great deal. The ADR2 60USB drive can be attached to any system of you're liking within a matter of minutes allowing you to back up all those critical data without any delay. Onstream have made this drive even more attractive to potential buyers by incorporating the unit to support USB 2.0 allowing for ultra high speed transfer rates.
This drive might prove useful for not only servers and workstations, even home users have a lot to gain from this unit. Simply schedule your weekly backups and then forget about it. It's as simple as that. In the event your system crashes, you have nothing much to worry about as the ADR2 60USB drive will have up to date information of your system and it's most likely that you wouldn't have even known that it was doing this work for you. This is the kind of flexibility the ADR2 60USB tape drive offers. I don't think I need to mention how important this drive will prove to be in a server environment now do I ?
All in all this is yet another killer product brought to us by Onstream. They have been able to integrate very useful features a modern day user would want and yet have been able to keep the price of the drive very reasonable. It's definitely worth giving this product a try, I give you my word, you'll not regret it.
