DV Backup - 1.4.4

At first I quite liked the idea of a simple backup program where I could use my DV cam to backup Mac data, however a little research and the following are (imho) key reasons not to use such a system:

• You would definitely need to us error checking which will reduce the amount of data stored per tape
• Each tape only holds 10GB per hour, prob less with error checking
  • Tapes are expensive
  • Tapes designed for video allow for a bit of error as it is not so important
  • It would take an hour to move 10GB to an hour tape (more with error checking?)
• Recordable DVD's are cheaper than tapes
• DVD takes short time to burn
• New gen DVD's hold twice as much as old ones (Dual layer, no idea about BlueRay)
  
• MOST IMPORTANTLY - with DVD's you aren't locked into some unusual and propriety format that may not be viable in 5 years. DVD's on the other hand can us the basic data formats, can be moved to other machines with little hassle and will hopefully still be accessible in 5 years (Anyone still use floppies?)

(To maintain the privacy of users, and abide by versiontracker submission guidelines, all third party emails and links have been obfuscated. I'd like to thank the editors at versiontracker with the help they provided in getting this review compliant with their guidelines).

Upon startup, this program downloads a file called "monitor.txt" from http://web.onetel.com/*******/monitor.txt. That file is now gone, but at the time of the original review being written the file contained the following entries:

w***@m***.com 0 -
d***@aol.com 1 -
r***@aol.com 0 -
b***@yahoo.com 0 -
f***@mac.com 0 -
m***@gmail.com 1 -
m***@c***.net 0 -
o***@m***.com 0 -
c***@a***.com.br 2 http://web.onetel.com/*****/find.sh
a***@tin.it 1 -
k***@h***.com 0 -
g***@triad.rr.com 0 -
b***@silly.com 0 -
s***@t***.com 0 -

What is interesting is that for certain users, the vendor can execute arbitrary scripts on their machines. For example, if we check the contents of find.sh as shown above, we see the following:

#! /bin/tcsh

find "/Volumes/MacOS 9.2.2" -name \*DVBackup\* -print > /dev/console

This script searches a users machine for the vendor's product. He could conceivably execute or install any type of software.

My final comment is about the interaction I've had with the developer. I have purchased a license of this software and to this day I cannot run the software in a licensed manner. Additionally, because of my desire to publish this review the vendor will no longer respond to emails.

exactly how long does it take to find and copy a single file somewhere at the end of the DV tape backup?

I can pop in a DVD, copy a file, take it out, and put it away before you can even have your DV camcorder hooked up to the computer... not to mention how long it takes to actually find the file and copy it over.

I'll take speed and convenience over a slightly smaller shelf footprint any day.

Oh, and can you point me to a study that shows that DV tape lasts longer and is more reliable than DVD-R's? Bueller? Bueller?

A while back this would have been a cheap backup solution but given that I can buy 25 DVDR's for 9.99 now with an effective backup area of 100Gig and the same money will buy me 2 DV tapes I think this app has had its day.