hoodr@syscube.csus.edu (Robert Hood) (04/09/91)
Last week I asked: >Does anybody have any recomondations for a tape drive for the NeXTstation? >We are thinking about buying one to back up a few 1.2Gb disks. I got more requests for summaries than I did drive info, so..here's it is: ----------- eps@toaster.SFSU.EDU (Eric P. Scott) recommends: >Exabyte 8mm 2.3GB cjp@ssesco.com (Chuck Purcell) recommends: >Hi! I was very pleasantly surprised to find the Exabyte-EXB8500 worked well >on my NeXTslab-2.0 I did not do anything much special except set the unit >number to 5, and use /dev/rst1 as the device. I have an Exabyte-8200 attach >ed to my system complex to test instead of the 8500, TODO real soon now 8-( murphy@gibbs.physics.purdue.edu (William J. Murphy) recommends: >We just installed an Exabyte 8mm tape backup this week. Works like a >champ. The worst part of it was getting the cables and case. We had the >scsi1 - scsi2 cable from NeXT, which hooked to our external drive case. >Then the Exabyte case (purchased separately, barebones w/ power supply) >needed a Centronics 50 pin to the 50 pin SCSI header. I purchased the >parts for the Centronics from Digi-Key, the header and ribbon cable was >available locally. Put the cable together in about a half hour. (I'm >just a physicist, not a EE tech.) Everything works great. > >I purchased the Exabyte from AVIV corp. >AVIV Inc. >4 Fourth Ave. >Burlington MA 01803 > >EXB-8200S Exabyte 8MM tape drive $1990.00 john@dix.Mines.Colorado.EDU (John Stockwell) warns: >Dear Fellow NeXT User, > Be warned that all EXABYTE 8200 subsystems are not the same. >We had a bad experience with an EXABYTE subsystem that we purchased >back in January. In all fairness to the manufacturer, it may have >just been a run of bad cables, but we never could get their >subsystem to work on our NeXTs, and finally had to return it. > > The company that we had success with was > > American Digital > 2759 Old Higgins Road > Elk Grove Village, IL 60007 > (708) 290-0310 > > FAX (708) 290-0310 > >We dealt with a guy named Bill Barker who was very helpful in >getting us the right cables for the unit. He even called a >couple of days after we got the subsystem up and running to >see if everything was ok. We are very pleased with the >performance of the unit. > >There are 3 pieces of information that you need to know in >order to get an EXABYTE subsystem to work on your NeXTs. > >1) The internal option switch settings on the EXABYTE itself: > These are > 1) on (up) > 2) on (up) > 3) on (up) > 4) on (up) > 5) off (down) > 6) off (down) > 7) off (down) > 8) off (down) > >These govern how the actual EXABYTE device communicates with the >outside world. These are the settings recommended by NeXTAnswers. > >2) The SCSI ID number is controlled by a second set of dip switches, > or by pin/plug combinations. This should not be set to 0, 1 , or 7 > on most systems. The boot device is usually 0 or 1 and the computer > itself is 7. The idea is to use a unique SCSI ID number. > >3) The cable must be by the specs in the NeXT Users manual. > American Digital knows the correct one for the 68030 system. > It is *not* quite the same as MacIntosh, in spite of what > it says in the NeXT Users manual. The 68040 connection > is Centronics to SCSI-2 (male) (the same as the one for > a SUN SPARC station). > >Make sure that you ask for a copy of the manual for the EXABYTE unit. Thanks to all those who responded. Looks like EXABYTE wins. Robert -- Robert Hood - Network and Operating Systems Support California State University: Sacramento E-Mail: hoodr@csus.edu Phone: (916) 278-7402 Fax: (916) 278-7671