cyliax@ecn.purdue.edu (Ingo Cyliax) (02/26/91)
I just spend the weekend playing with a WangDAT 1300 on the NeXT at home. It works ! I just hooked it up with the default jumper and switch settings and ran dump/tar/dd on it. The transfer speed seemed about the same as a Exabyte under 1.0a. I wasn't able to stream the drive, so I know I was under the maximum transfer rates. The seek times on DATs are _alot_ faster then anything else I have seen. It will rewind in about 60seconds from the end of the tape, and I was able to skip over 300+Mb files in about 20seconds/file. Too bad I had to give the drive back, I was just borrowing it. If I were to buy a backup device for my NeXT, this would be it. I think this drive can be had for under $1500 from FastAccess. Although the media is more expensive than 8mm Video tape.($7.00/8mmVideo@Kmart vs.$14.00/DAT@GoodVibes), it's still more economical than ODs and floppies for large volumes of data. I expect that the media will come down in price as more audio DATs will be sold. Also, the 1.3Gb drives should come down in price as they catch on and higher capacity DATs become available. So now all I have to do is get working on my backup utility for the NeXT. A nice backup utility and a DAT or Exabyte would be the way to go for backing up small networks of NeXTs (and other machines).... Bye, -ingo --- /* Ingo Cyliax ECN, Electrical Engineering Bldg. * * cyliax@ecn.purdue.edu Purdue University, W. Lafayette,IN 47907 * * ing@cc.purdue.edu Work: (317) 494-9523 * * cyliax@pur-ee.UUCP Home: (317) 474-0031 */