flip@osu-cgrg.UUCP (07/14/86)
*** REPLACE THIS floppy WITH YOUR tape drive *** Any REAL LIFE EXPERIENCES (note, not "well i've heard of this...") with any of the tape drives available for the pc? i need the 10 inch reel capibility. The stuff is coming usually off of a vax or a system 36. Comments reguarding software, hardware relaiability, etc would be appreciated. Also, any hardware hack job home brew thoughts would be appreciated. yours in 9-tracks flip -- Flip Phillips {ucbvax,decvax}!cbosg!osu-cgrg!flip Computer Graphics Research Group, The Ohio State University "All I wanted was a Pepsi, and she wouldn't give it to me..." -Suicidal Tendancies
authorplaceholder@inmet.UUCP (07/18/86)
**********@<-<-<-< Choke on it, Line Eater!********** I used an Alloy single-reel 9-track system for two years, for backups and data tranfers -- never had a hardware problem. The drive itself is built like a tank, and weighs near as much. The control panel is idiot-proof; you can't hang the system up, no matter how you punch the membrane keys. The interface was proprietary, although I heard they were going to go SCSI. The control software is fairly straight-forward and seemingly quite robust - it never really hung-up on me either, despite lots of reasonable opportunities to do so. You can write ASCII or binary files to and from the tape, or you can use a compressed backup-restore format. If you are writing ASCII or binary files, you can specify block and record length, and number of blocks or records to be written. (There was one bug in the routine that wrote binaries to DOS -- it insisted on writing only in even segments, even though it properly informed DOS that the file type was binary.) I don't have comparable experience with any other PC-compatable 9-tracks, but if robustness and reliability are your major criteria, you can't go too far wrong with this system. Roger Brockett ...!ihnp!ima!roger ************************************************ * "A multitude of mesons are within you all." * * * * - RACTER * ************************************************ Std. Disclaimer - If any of the above opinions represented those of Intermetrics, Inc - it would be the first time. Additional Disclaimer - I don't know anybody who knows anybody at Alloy Computer Products