[comp.periphs] DAT and 8mm: practical experiences

cbs@cs.cmu.edu (Clauss Strauch) (06/17/91)

	I've seen the hype and some of the technical data comparing 8mm to 
4mm tape drives, but would like to hear people's practical experiences with 
the two media.  Specifically:  
		-- Experiences with reliablity, both for the drives and
	           the media (how well do the tapes hold up to repeated
                   use/abuse?).

		-- The 90m (2 GB w/o compression) DAT drives are available,
                   but are the drives and media as reliable as the lower-
		   capacity ones?  It seems like just a short while ago
		   the 90m tapes were bleeding edge.
		   
		-- Anything else that gets left out of the advertising
		   blurbs and technical specifications, but might cause a 
		   sysadmin to prefer one technology over the other.

                                       -- Clauss Strauch
                                          Engineering Design Research Center
                                          Carnegie Mellon University
                                          cbs@edrc.cmu.edu