February 12, 2003
Bandwidth
There have been many times over the years I've used the saying:
"What's the fastest way to get a gigabyte of data across town?
A station wagon full of backup tapes."
This simple idea often escapes folks that want to hammer their network moving freight-train-sized chunks of data around.
Often it's better to step back and consider how often the stuff needs updating. If it's not minute-to-minute data then consider pushing it off onto archive media (tape, CDR, DVD-R) and shipping it via UPS, FedEx or other postal services.
This is a great way for you to carry your MP3 collection from home to the office. Better to do this than to hammer the network downloading or streaming the files.
I shy away from using things like USB or Firewire devices as many target environments may not have the drivers needed to interface to them. If yours does then by all means consider them. One note of caution, shipping drives requires they be in some form of padded material. Backup media needs nothing more than a stiff envelope.
A reader on the slimp3-dev mailing list noted an alternative expression of the saying "Never underestimate the bandwidth of a speeding station-wagon full of 9-track tapes."
