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From: ballagh@maxwell.otago.ac.nz (robert ballagh) Date: Thu, 4 May 1995 18:11:09 +1200 (NZST) I have a TP 755C running OS/2 Warp, and wish to back up the entire hard disk onto a DAT tape. I have ordered the IBM PCM SCSI card, but wonder what additional software I will need (if any) to carry out the backup. Would the same software allow me to reconstitute the disk from the tape? And is the process independent of the particular model of DAT drive? If anyone has any experience or tips, I would be grateful to hear of them I've been using GTAR/GTAK, which has three advantages. First, it's free (you can get it from hobbes or several other ftp sites). Second, it can be used to interchange tapes with unix systems. Third, if you use the "Quick File Access" feature, it is very fast at locating specific files on a tape. On the down side: this program is difficult to install because the installation instructions are sketchy (maybe cryptic is more accurate). It took me a couple of hours to puzzle out the instructions enough to get it working. Considering that I have much experience with both DDS drives and SCSI, I think this is pretty awful. Also on the down side, tar is not the friendliest program to use, because it has no user interface. And further, while tar is fine for doing full or incremental backups, it's pretty bad at doing archival storage where you periodically add more things to the archive; it can be done, but it's not pleasant. Mainly I continue using it because it's free, and it works well enough that I don't want to spend the time trying other things. Also I have been keeping track of people's comments regarding OS/2 tape backup programs, and I've yet to hear that any particular program is outstanding.