tyager@maxx.UUCP (Tom Yager) (09/27/88)
I posted a message about this before, so if it all sounds familiar, it's not deja vu. I purchased an Irwin 40MB tape drive for my system before I had a chance to discuss with anyone how well supported they were by Xenix. The drive works fine (no errors yet) and is fast, but I need a drive that supports tape positioning and permits multiple archives on one tape. It is my plan to use tapes as my software/news archive as well as conventional backup. I recently got a chance to purchase either an Archive or Wangtek drive, with the controllers recommended by SCO, at an excellent price. I'd like to be more cautious this time, so I ask Xenix users who use this combination (preferably 20MHz 80386 + SCO Xenix + Archive 60MB, but close will do) to respond with their general review and a few specific answers: 1) Does the "tape" command work as advertised, permitting the writing of and skipping to file marks? Do "skip to file mark" operations go quickly? 2) Does the append option (r) of tar work? 3) Is there any C function call support for the tape drive? I know that some Unix tape drivers permit IOCTL calls to position the tape, rewind, etc. 4) Does it have problems running on a 20MHz machine? (the Irwin does, at least prior to update K) In its defense, I must say that the Irwin is a good, fast, well-built drive. It works great with MS-DOS (as often as I use that!) and zips through con- ventional backups with no trouble. In case anyone's interested, I might offer the Irwin to someone looking for a cheap, simple backup device. Otherwise, I'll hang onto it so I can juggle files between drives. The Irwin is less than 6 months old, has 5 tapes and the original box and manual. It is in new condition. Toss me a price if you like. In any case, thanks to all for any assistance. (ty) -- Tom Yager, Apollo Computer ARPA: tyager%maxx@m2c.m2c.org -or- tyager@apollo.com - My opinions are mine, all mine. Nyah. - "I like life; it's something to do."
asp@puck.UUCP (Andy Puchrik) (09/28/88)
In article <36@maxx.UUCP>, tyager@maxx.UUCP (Tom Yager) writes: > I recently got a chance to purchase either an Archive or Wangtek drive, > with the controllers recommended by SCO, at an excellent price. I'd like >.... So what's a good price for the above? Is it internal or external? Are you buying in the Boston area or is it being shipped from afar? I'm looking for compatibility between a SUN 3/50 and System V/AT with plans to go to a 386 when memory becomes realistic again. Some day the tape drives will be standard and floppy drives will be optional. -- Internet: asp@puck.UUCP Andy Puchrik uucp: decvax!necntc!necis!puck!asp Moonlight Systems ARPA: puchrik@tops20.dec.com Concord, MA 01742