Questions about Backup on SparcStation

[Maurice Volaski]

I have some questions about file backup on a SparcStation.  First, what
methods are used to do backups?  Second, Is there any commercial (or
non-commercial) product that backups to a mountable volume such as an
optical drive.  Third, is it true that 8-mm tape drives are block devices
and thus can be mounted as a regular hard disk?  Fourth, anyone have any
experience with optical drives from FWB, Pinnacle Micro, and R-Squared?

Thanks,

Maurice
(e-mail responses to me if possible)