garyj@neptun.pcs.com (Gary Jennejohn) (03/09/91)
> One thing we found out here at work is that if the drives are configured > (Wangtek) for 150meg like on our Sparcs, they will read 60 meg tapes but > they won't write on the 60meg tape cartridges!!! > > If our situation is unique, any help as to the solution would be appreciated. > Right now, we use 6150 model cartridges for backups. I can't see any > slot that makes them special either. Your situation is not unique, we have the same 'problem' here with our 150/350/500 MB tape drives. The higher capacity drives are able to accomodate themselves to reading the lower capacity tapes by shifting the heads (that's why the tape runs back and forth a few times when you stick a 60MB tape into a 150MB drive) but they can't hack writing to the old tapes because thay want to use all available write heads. The >= 150MB tapes are recognized by the drive because the holes at the start are in different locations. 150MB tapes are nice for backup but they cost a lot and are hard to come by (at least here in Germany). Gary
des@musashi.wpd.sgi.com (Des Young) (03/12/91)
Okay, what's the deal then. Are we going to manage a group tape drive buy ? Is everybody waiting for someone else to organize it ? I have a couple of questions for those in the know. 1. The 115MB capacity I presume is 120MB, meeting QIC-120 2. Can it write 60MB tapes, meeting QIC-24 ? (This would be unusual). 3. Is it an Archive tape drive ? 4. What is the model number. I have a manual for an Archive 2060S, and 2150S. Both of these are great drives, good reputation. 5. Is it 5.25", HALF HEIGHT ??? If all the answers seem ok I might volunteer to organize a purchase. Can whoever did the hard disks tell me how they managed that feat ? Des.
kls@ditka.Chicago.COM (Karl Swartz) (03/12/91)
> what's the deal then. Are we going to manage a group tape drive buy ? > Is everybody waiting for someone else to organize it ? I'm working on organizing something again, probably also including one or two of the disks also mentioned in the same flyer as people have expressed interest in smaller disks. The CSC folks were for the most part reasonable on the first disk buy, though they haven't a clue about how to keep track of their own paperwork as evidenced by their complete inability to track down Bdale's invoice. I'll hopefully talk to them tomorrow and post an announcement in the next day or two. -- Karl Swartz |INet kls@ditka.chicago.com 1-408/223-1308 |UUCP {uunet,decwrl}!daver!ditka!kls |Snail 1738 Deer Creek Ct., San Jose CA 95148 "It's psychosomatic. You need a lobotomy. I'll get a saw." (Calvin)
des@musashi.wpd.sgi.com (Des Young) (03/13/91)
Hi again, having read the recent mail, I notice the tape drive is an Archive 2060S. This is the 60MB Archive "Viper" series. According to my manual: Drive 2060S: 60MB, 9-track serpentine, 10,000 frpi, 8000 bpi, 90Kb/s, 1.8MB/s SCSI, Recording format QIC-24 Read Compatability QIC-24 NOTE: drive type 2150S supports QIC-120 (120MB) and QIC-150 (150MB). However, it can read but not write QIC-24. SUMMARY: if the drive is indeed 2060S, then it probably does not do more than 60MB ! (I would be happy with this though). The DC600 cartridges are QIC-24 (60MB). I think the DC600A's are higher coercivity, and along with more tracks yield 120MB (15 tracks, 10Kbpi). The XTD cartridges are the same as DC600A, but are mechanically superior, giving 150MB capacity. Someone will correct me if this is wrong. In any case, we use the Archive drives in the SGI machines here. They have tried Tandberg and Wangtek also, but found them to be unreliable (good if you have a good one, but hit and miss whether you get a good one). The Archive drives definitely come up best in these workstations. Cheers, Des.
bdale@col.hp.com (Bdale Garbee) (03/13/91)
> a clue about how to keep track of their own paperwork as evidenced > by their complete inability to track down Bdale's invoice. I should point out that after I finally found a copy of my invoice, I sent the drive to them 2nd day air on a Monday, and had a replacment back 2nd day air on that Friday. Once you realize that they have an absolutely archaic paperwork system and can only index on an invoice number/date tuple, they are quite pleasant about fixing things. Strongly suggest everyone make copies of your invoices and store them in your safe deposit boxes at the bank, etc... 1/2 :-) Bdale
wilker@gauss.math.purdue.edu (Clarence Wilkerson) (03/17/91)
I'd be interested in group buy on the tape drives. I received in the mail last week a flyer from CSC. Here's what the ad says " SCSI TAPE DRIVES..... Archive 2060S.... formated storage capacity is 62 megabytes using DC600 tapes and 115 MB using XL tapes..." One free 115MB tape shipped free with each drive. The photo underneath shows a 3M DC 6250 cartridge sticking out of the drive. Clarence Wilkerson wilker@math.purdue.edu prices 1 $295, 5 $249 each, 10 $219 each .