Ask Fred.

Q: I was at a Microsoft Tech Night meeting last month where someone started talking about a new tape technology called ADR. I'm not sure what this is. Is it a new version of a DAT drive? Also, could you tell me if it is something I could use to back up my servers? I currently manage a small company with three servers, each with about 18GB of disk storage. They are all running NT 4.0 and I have three DDS-3 DAT drives to back them up.

Susan R.

San Jose 

A: First, ADR is not a DAT drive. It is actually closer to a Travan or QIC drive in that it uses linear recording technology where DAT uses helical recording technology. The big improvement with ADR is that it records eight tracks or as I quote from their web site, "Advanced Digital Recording (ADR) is an all-new, variable speed, digital tape storage solution. Initially developed by Philips Electronics and protected by 47 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."

It also has the ability to change its speed based on the throughput of your computer. The transfer speed window is between .5 to 2MB/sec. This gives it speeds that are closer to the current DDS-4 DAT technology.

Now, on to your question about whether you use this technology to back up your servers: I will assume you back each server separately with its own tape drive and that you are using a software package like Backup Exec from Seagate Software. The answer is yes; you could use this technology to back up but you would have to abandon your DAT drives and media, for an ADR drive will not read or even accept a DAT cartridge.

If you already have a large library of DAT media and do not want to convert, I would recommend you stay with DAT and upgrade your drives to DDS-4. If your library of tapes is small, then the conversion would be quite easy for Backup Exec already supports ADR. Just remember you should buy the higher capacity, SCSI interface product called SC50 for you will need the 25GB capacity cartridge and you could use the existing SCSI host adapter that your current DAT drives are using. Also, I want you to know I have never used ADR technology; so please do not take my answer as an endorsement. All I am saying is, based on the specifications, this technology would meet your requirements.