We have all heard the age-old tale, "backup your data". The number of personal backup devices out there now makes the decision of which one fits your budget/needs a difficult one. With the size of hard drives increasing, the need for larger backup devices is also increasing. The current average hard drive is in the 20GB range, so that trusty, old Colorado 240MB just doesn't cut it anymore :). Your choices for a new backup unit are vast and include companies such as: Iomega and CastleWood.

 

OnStream
In the storage business since 1998, OnStream has produced some very proven products that fit just about everyone's needs. A while back, AnandTech took a look at the SC-50 drive, which targets the server market. This drive is still in our Lab and is running as if new. Adding to their product line, OnStream brought out the USB30 drive, which features 30GB of capacity, and a USB interface, making this drive very portable.

Specifications

General Characteristics	DP30	DI30	USB30	SC30	SC30e	FW30
ADR Cartridge Compatibility*	ADR 30GB	ADR 30GB	ADR 30GB	ADR 30GB	ADR 30GB	ADR 30GB
Interface	Enhanced Parellel Port	IDE-ATAPI	USB	Fast Narrow SCSI-2	Fast Narrow SCSI-2	FireWire
Configuration	external	internal	external	internal	external	external
Tape Width	8mm
Number of Tracks	192
Performance	DP30	DI30	USB	SC30	SC30e	FW30
Compressed Capacity (2:1)	30GB	30GB	30GB	30GB	30GB	30GB
Transfer Rate (native)	up to .7 MB/s or 2.5	up to 1.0 MB/s or 3.6 GB/hr	up to .85 MB/s or 3 GB/hr	up to 2.0 MB/s or 7.2 GB/hr	up to 2.0 MB/s or 7.2 GB/hr	up to 2.0 MB/s or 7.2 GB/hr
Read/Write Speed	11 ips to 22 ips continuously variable			11 ips to 44 ips continuously variable
Search Speed	60 ips
Reliability	DP30	DI30	USB30	SC30	SC30e	FW30
Bit Error Rate	1 in 1019
Limited Warranty**	1	1	2	2	2	2
Physical Specifications	DP30	DI30	USB30	SC30	SC30e	FW30
Dimensions: inches ( H x W x L ) millimeters	1.5 x 7.1 x 10.5 38 x 181 x 267	1.6 x 5.8 x 7.0 42 x 147 x 178	1.5 x 7.1 x 10.5 38 x 181 x 267	1.6 x 5.8 x 7.0 42 x 147 x 178	1.5 x 7.1 x 10.5 38 x 181 x 267	1.5 x 7.1 x 10.5 38 x 181 x 267
Weight: pounds kilograms	2.14 0.97	1.25 0.57	2.14 0.97	1.25 0.57	2.14 0.97	2.14 0.97
Power Requirements	DP30	DI30	USB30	SC30	SC30e	FW30
Voltage	100-240 V	5V +/- 5%, 12V +/- 10%
Power Consumption	12 watts nominal
Environmental	DP30	DI30	USB30	SC30	SC30e	FW30
Operating Temperature	50 degrees to 104 degrees fahrenheit 10 degrees to 40 degrees celsius
Operating Relative Humidity	30% to 80% non-condensing
Agency Certifications	FCC Class B, UL, CSA, CE

The Technology

ADR is a technology that was initially designed by Philips Electronics, which is protected by 61 patents (pending). The innovation, however, comes in how this drive reads the tape. It can read 8 tracks simultaneously. Because of this, the drive has a very high reliability rate, rather high transfer rates and is very quiet. To be exact, the drive has one (1) unreadable bit in every 1019 bits recorded. Compare this to your conventional hard drive, say an IBM Deskstar 14GXP, which has a reliability rate of 1 in 1013 . The drive also employs a variable data rate so that if your machine is delivering a throughput of 0.5MB/s, then the drive will slow down to accommodate that; if, however, your machine is delivering throughput at 2MB/s, then it will speed up to accommodate that speed. How does this help? Well, say the drive ran at a steady rate. If your machine was delivering a slower rate, it would have to constantly rewind back to the point where data was written last in order to compensate for that space where it wasn't receiving data. If you would like to learn more about the ADR technology, you can read it here.

ADR eight channel read/write head

The Drive
The drive itself looks like its made of space-age material. It is silver in color, with a metallic finish. Installation of the drive is quite simple; if you can plug in a USB cable to your computer, you have what it takes :). OnStream includes a stand with the drive in case you want to have the drive sitting vertically on your desk as a space-saver -- a good idea for those of you with a cramped desk.

The Software
Every OnStream drive comes with the OnStream backup software, "ECHO". This software allows you to access the drive like a regular drive letter through Windows Explorer. The software will perform scheduled backups of your local machine just like any other software. The one thing missing that is VITAL to network and server situations is proper network backup functionality. To back up networked drives, you have to map a drive to each machine you want to backup. It will not backup network drives by just attaching to the server by a specified user. BackupExec does this, like many of the higher end backup software solutions. Out of the box, the Drive only supports the Echo Software; although, we managed to get it working with BackupExec and Dantz Retrospect by just backing up to the drive letter instead of the device. On a side note, Dantz Retrospect, which is a MAC based product as well as PC, will work with the USB30.

Echo backup software

Drive in Explorer

Cost Analysis Comparison
To give you an idea of what this drive costs in comparison to other drives, we compiled some cost data on other removable storage drives. OnStream publishes their own cost comparison, but we did our own. The purpose of the chart is to illustrate the cost of the drive, its media and cost per GB. The figures assume 2:1 compression across all medians. Performance will be relatively the same across the USB platform as the limitation is 1.5MB/second.

Drive	Interface	Drive Cost	Capacity (compressed)	Media Cost	Media Cost/GB	Native Transfer Rate	ECC Reliability	Warranty
OnStream USB 30	USB	$259.00	30 GB	$44.95 (per tape)	$1.50	0.85MB/sec	1019	1 year
iomega Zip 250	USB	$179.00	250 MB	$20.00 (per disc)	$40 / GB	0.9MB/sec	1012	1 year
iomega Jaz 2GB	SCSI	$228.00	2 GB	$119.00 (per disc)	$29.75 / GB	7.5MB/sec	1012	1 year
Castlewood ORB USB 2.2GB	USB	$199.00	2.2 GB	$29.95 (per disc)	$7 / GB	1.0MB/sec	1012	1 year

Performance
Measuring these drive speeds is not incredibly accurate, but at least the statistics will give you an idea of its average speed. The drive is rated at 0.85MB/sec, and that is pretty much exactly what we achieved in our tests. A 720MB compressed file took approximately 15 minutes to backup, which is about 0.8 MB/Sec; CPU usage hovered between 3-15%. As the drive claims, it's great to store MP3's on. Several MP3's were copied over to the drive and then played back. Playback was smooth and uninterrupted. Seek time is, of course, slower than a hard drive. But, this drive is more suited to backing up data, and on occasion, playing a MP3 or a video from it. During playback of the MP3, CPU usage was anywhere between 3-15%, which is not bad at all for a USB device.

If 0.8 MB/sec isn't enough performance for you, you might want to look at the other portable solutions that OnStream has. They have announced a FireWire version of the drive, which is capable of 2MB/sec, and they also have a SCSI version of this drive, also capable of 2MB/sec.

Conclusion
OnStream has developed a portable, sleek, reasonably priced backup drive. The drive is quick, reliable and cost effective. The drive itself will run about $299 with a mail-in rebate. Tapes are about $119 for 3, which is about $1 per GB. The drive currently works in Windows 98 only. Windows 2000 support is coming, but not ready for the public yet.

Yet again OnStream has Impressed us with another quality product. If you are looking for a portable backup solution, this drive should definitely be on the top of your list. Enough can't be said about the quality and innovation that OnStream has put into the storage market in such a short time.

AnandTech Storage Rating
	Rating (x/10)
Performance The ECHO USB30 drive performs on par with most any other USB removable storage device.	7.5
Price The price of this unit is exceptional given the massive storage capacity of 30GB.	8.5
Stability The drive ran backups day and night for a few weeks without any errors or problems.	8.0
Quality Although OnStream has only been around for a few years, they have made their mark as a quality product manufacturer.	8.5
Features Alot of thought went into this drive, it will fit just about anywhere with the handy vertical stand OnStream provides with the drive.	7.5
Availability These drives are available at most any major online store and locally they were at most of the big chains.	7.0
Documentation & Software Bundle The drive comes with decent documentation, users shouldn't have any problems installing and configuring the software/drive.	7.5
Overall Rating - not an average Click here to find out why	8.0