gnu@toad.com (01/05/89)
> What is the difference between /dev/rst0 and /dev/rst8 on Suns?... > [[ The difference is very similar to the different between /dev/rmt0 and > /dev/rmt8. 0 is a "lower density" device, requiring more tape to fit the > same amount of information but less prone to bad spots on the media. 8 is > a "higher density" device. For the rst device, 0 uses QIC-11 format and 8 > uses QIC-24. --wnl ]] All but the last sentence of wnl's answer is false. There is no difference in density between /dev/rst0 and /dev/rst8. The only difference is the format of the bits on the tape. Two organizations ended up defining bit formats (Archive and the QIC committee) and now we have to live with both of them. They provide equivalent function and tape size. QIC-24 (rst8) is the "preferred" format since it came afterward and was designed by a nominally "standards" committee. More machines tend to use it nowadays. SunOS 4.0 boot tapes are in QIC-24 format; previous release tapes were in QIC-11 (Archive) format. [[ What about differences in number of tracks on the tape? Granted, that doesn't effect density, but it does effect total amount of data on the tape. --wnl ]] This question has already been answered several times on Sun-Spots. John Gilmore