Re: EPICS XL data storage on CD's
PAUL@flowcyt.cyto.purdue.edu
Sun, 26 May 1996 20:48:15
Margaret Cooley writes:
"I want to go to non-rewritable media, and by far the cheapest
alternative seems to be CD-ROM (I can get a Sony CDU-920S CD-R drive
premastering unit and CD's for the price of 6 months worth of magneto
optical disks. Can people please advise:
(1) Have you done this?
(2) How well does it work?"
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J.Paul Robinson Replies:
I asked this same question about 2 and 1/2 years ago when we were
thinking of doing the same thing. The answer is that it is a cheap,
relatively fast and easy method of archiving. Our experience has been
with one of the more expensive recorders, but that was all that was
available then - now you can spend $1000 and probably get good value.
The current cost of CDs is about $6-6.50 each for 650 megs. We have
now made several hundred over the past 2 years and no regrets at all!
One significant advantage of CDs is that we now have plenty of extra
coffee coasters at only $6 each!
1. My advice is to always make 2 copies
2. Do a random test on each CD made to see if you can extract a file
3. Don't store both copies in the same lab
4. print a copy of the directory from each disk and store that
5. Don't bother trying to make multisession CDs
6. set a lower limit for cutting a CD (say 100 megs) and don't worry
that you are wasting most of the disk!
Do it - see how much money you can save!!
Paul
J.Paul Robinson, Purdue University Cytometry Labs
robinson@flowcyt.cyto.purdue.edu PH:317-494 6449 FAX:317-494 0517
web http://www.cyto.purdue.edu