jmorris@hpsemc.HP.COM (John V. Morris) (10/05/88)
Does anybody know of a copy service that replicates HP cartridge tapes? I am helping a third party software vendor that desperately needs some way of making copies of his S300 software releases. Apparently HP tapes have an unusual format, so most services can't copy them. Thanks for any leads at all, John Morris HP Technology Access Center (408) 725-3871
bd@hp-sde.SDE.HP.COM (Bob Desinger) (10/06/88)
John V. Morris (jmorris@hpsemc.HP.COM) writes: > Apparently HP tapes have an unusual format, so most services can't copy them. Like many vendors, they use the 3M format. The Other Leading Brand of format is QIC, also used by many vendors, most notably Sun. There are various technical reasons for the differing standards (which were settled upon before the market had a chance to stabilize---kinda like the way we have VHS and Beta videotape standards). You can mount a 3M tape as a filesystem, for instance (!), but I think the QIC tapes are faster for typical archive purposes. The bottom line is that the 3M and QIC standards are quite incompatible. You can't read a 3M tape on a QIC drive, or vice versa. The 3M tapes are formatted by 3M at the factory, so the tape format is cast in bronze. -- bd P.S. Tell everyone on hpsemc that I said hi!