howardl@wb3ffv.ampr.org ( WB3FFV) (07/30/90)
Hello, I was wondering if anybody has tried to use the 3M DC6250 cartridges in the Archive 2150S or the 2150E tape backups. I know that you are suppose to be able to get 250 megabytes backed up on the 6250 tapes, and wanted to know what good or bad experiences anyone else has had with the above drive/tape combinations. I assume the 6250 should work fine in the 2150E, but I am not sure if there are any strange quirks in the SCSI based version. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Internet : howardl@wb3ffv.ampr.org | Howard D. Leadmon UUCP : wb3ffv!howardl | Advanced Business Solutions TELEX : 152252474 | 210 E. Lombard St - Suite 410 Telephone : (301)-576-8635 | Baltimore, MD 21202
larry@nstar.uucp (Larry Snyder) (07/31/90)
howardl@wb3ffv.ampr.org ( WB3FFV) writes: >I was wondering if anybody has tried to use the 3M DC6250 cartridges in >the Archive 2150S or the 2150E tape backups. I know that you are suppose >to be able to get 250 megabytes backed up on the 6250 tapes, and wanted to >know what good or bad experiences anyone else has had with the above Please let us know if that does work - as we would be most interested in using our 2150 to make 250 megabyte tapes - -- Larry Snyder, Northern Star Communications, Notre Dame, IN USA uucp: iuvax!ndmath!nstar!larry -or- larry@nstar Public Access Unix Site (219) 289-0282 (5 lines/PEP/HST/Hayes-V)
jbayer@ispi.COM (Jonathan Bayer) (07/31/90)
howardl@wb3ffv.ampr.org ( WB3FFV) writes: > Hello, >I was wondering if anybody has tried to use the 3M DC6250 cartridges in >the Archive 2150S or the 2150E tape backups. I know that you are suppose >to be able to get 250 megabytes backed up on the 6250 tapes, and wanted to >know what good or bad experiences anyone else has had with the above >drive/tape combinations. I assume the 6250 should work fine in the 2150E, >but I am not sure if there are any strange quirks in the SCSI based version. It will depend on how long you have had the tape drive. I can't speak for Archive, but Wangtek drives can sometimes support the 6250 tape. I spoke to Wangtek directly, and they told me that when the new 6250 tapes were being designed/introduced they (Wangtek) redesigned their 150 meg tape drives to support the new tape. This tells me that there is something different about these tapes. I would suspect that the same problem (whatever it is) will exist with the Archive. JB -- Jonathan Bayer Intelligent Software Products, Inc. (201) 245-5922 500 Oakwood Ave. jbayer@ispi.COM Roselle Park, NJ 07204
rsj@wa4mei.UUCP (Randy Jarrett) (07/31/90)
In <3689@wb3ffv.ampr.org> howardl@wb3ffv.ampr.org ( WB3FFV) writes: > Hello, >I was wondering if anybody has tried to use the 3M DC6250 cartridges in >the Archive 2150S or the 2150E tape backups. I know that you are suppose >to be able to get 250 megabytes backed up on the 6250 tapes, and wanted to >know what good or bad experiences anyone else has had with the above >drive/tape combinations. I assume the 6250 should work fine in the 2150E, >but I am not sure if there are any strange quirks in the SCSI based version. I have been using the DC6250 tapes on a standard 60 m drive at home to get approximatly 100 MB per tape storage. This is not bad for a tape that only costs $5 more per tape than the 60Mb tapes. We use the 6250's at work in both the 120MB drives on ATT systems and 150MB drives on other systems and havn't had any problems. The 6250 tape has a 1000' of tape in the cartridge where the 600's have 600'. -- Randy Jarrett WA4MEI UUCP ...!{emory,gatech}!wa4mei!rsj | US SNAIL: P.O. Box 941217 PHONE +1 404 493 9017 | Atlanta, GA 30341-0217
gary@mic.UUCP (Gary Lewin) (08/01/90)
In article <1990Jul31.013053.14163@nstar.uucp> larry@nstar.uucp (Larry Snyder) writes: >howardl@wb3ffv.ampr.org ( WB3FFV) writes: > >>I was wondering if anybody has tried to use the 3M DC6250 cartridges in >>the Archive 2150S or the 2150E tape backups. I know that you are suppose >>to be able to get 250 megabytes backed up on the 6250 tapes, and wanted to >>know what good or bad experiences anyone else has had with the above I do not know about the Archive but do know that the 250 meg tapes work well with a Wangtek. So far, only the buss drive version has been tested. Later this week, though, a Wangtek 150 meg SCSI tape unit will be in. If you want to know the results of the SCSI 250 meg test, send some mail. In general, the 250 meg tapes look and act just like the 150's. They are well worth the $4.00 additional cost (that runs out at $0.04 per meg, one of the best dollar-to-meg ratios I have ever seen). Gary Lewin gary@mic.lonestar.org
larry@nstar.uucp (Larry Snyder) (08/02/90)
gary@mic.UUCP (Gary Lewin) writes: >I do not know about the Archive but do know that the 250 meg tapes work >well with a Wangtek. So far, only the buss drive version has been tested. >Later this week, though, a Wangtek 150 meg SCSI tape unit will be in. If >you want to know the results of the SCSI 250 meg test, send some mail. >In general, the 250 meg tapes look and act just like the 150's. They are >well worth the $4.00 additional cost (that runs out at $0.04 per meg, one >of the best dollar-to-meg ratios I have ever seen). I was told that the ceramic heads on the 2150S will support the 250 megabytes tapes where as the metal heads won't. Now, the question is does my 2150S have a metal or ceramic head? -- Larry Snyder, Northern Star Communications, Notre Dame, IN USA uucp: iuvax!ndmath!nstar!larry -or- larry@nstar Public Access Unix Site (219) 289-0282 (5 lines/PEP/HST/Hayes-V)
tim@delluk.uucp (Tim Wright) (08/02/90)
With regard to using 250Mb tapes in a Wangtek. They have modified the drive because the thing was a bit too clever for it's own good. On rewind, the old drive will bomb with an error if it finds it has been rewinding for > 700'. This of course does not really affect Unix. It blows SYTOS out of the water, unfortuneatly. I have use 250Mb tapes under UNIX in an older drive with no ill effects. I believe the newer Wangtek 150Mb drive can also detect the use of DC600As (due to the holes at the BOT being closer), and will automatically adjust to use 15 tracks and hence 120/125Mb making it possible to use these tapes reliably. Hope this is of some use ! Tim -- Tim Wright, Unix Support | Email: ...!ukc!delluk!tim Dell Computer Corp. (UK), Bracknell | (pending domain registration).
dougp@ico.isc.com (Doug Pintar) (08/03/90)
OK, I was stunned by all the speculation and no hard answers to the original question, so I went out and bought a 6250 yesterday (~$31 US). Tried it on my Gateway 2000 25MHz (Micronics) box with Adaptec 1542A and Archive 2150S. (Oh yeah, running ISC Unix 2.2 with Adaptec set for 5.7 MB/sec [speed 4], bus-on 9 microsec, bus-off 6 microsec). I wrote a little test program that just wrote 320KB buffers to the tape (/dev/ct c 41 8), checked return codes and added up total transfer length. The tape streamed continuously, and the numbers came out as follows: Total tape capacity 269138944 bytes (256.67 MB) Real time: 42:47.3 (~104800 Bytes/sec) User time: 0.2 Sys time: 6.0 All in all, I'm pretty impressed! 150 MB was cutting what I needed to keep track of daily pretty fine, but 250 should give me plenty of growth room. Looks like a wiener, folx! DLP
chip@chinacat.Unicom.COM (Chip Rosenthal) (08/03/90)
In article <tim.649609612@holly> tim@delluk.uucp (Tim Wright) writes: >On rewind, the old drive will bomb with an error if it finds it has been >rewinding for > 700'. This of course does not really affect Unix. It blows >SYTOS out of the water, unfortuneatly. Yeah...well, these are the guys who ship XENIX drivers which hang the entire system for the duration of a tape rewind. Whose ioctl's are totally incompatible with what everybody else in the world uses. Who wouldn't provide the information on the ioctl's to do a rewind or reten, even under nondisclosure. (It took less time to crank up adb to get my answers than claw my way up the management chain.) I was very glad when SCO started providing native support for the Tecmar QIC-02. Oh yeah...the Sytos backup software was bundled free with the drivers. That's still overpriced. But boy...it sure had pretty menus. -- Chip Rosenthal | You aren't some icon carved out chip@chinacat.Unicom.COM | of soap, sent down here to clean Unicom Systems Development, 512-482-8260 | up my reputation. -John Hiatt
robert@towers.UUCP (Robert Hoquim) (08/03/90)
dougp@ico.isc.com (Doug Pintar) writes: > Real time: 42:47.3 (~104800 Bytes/sec) > User time: 0.2 > Sys time: 6.0 >All in all, I'm pretty impressed! 150 MB was cutting what I needed to keep >track of daily pretty fine, but 250 should give me plenty of growth room. >Looks like a wiener, folx! >DLP This sounds great but according to Archive there are 2 different heads that have been, and are still being used in the 2150s. If you have a model with metal heads there are some major concers about using the new 6250, it may work but wear on the head and tape will be excessive. If you have the ceramic heads all will be fine. Now all we need to do is find out how to tell the difference, I was unable to get that information, but was promissed a call back today from Archive with the information. If you have a Wangtek 5150ES all will be fine with the new 6250 tapes. -- Robert Hoquim Small Systems Specialists (317)-255-6807 8500 N. Meridian ..!nstar!towers!robert Indianapolis, IN. 46260
richard@pegasus.com (Richard Foulk) (08/04/90)
>>In general, the 250 meg tapes look and act just like the 150's. They are >>well worth the $4.00 additional cost (that runs out at $0.04 per meg, one >>of the best dollar-to-meg ratios I have ever seen). > >I was told that the ceramic heads on the 2150S will support the >250 megabytes tapes where as the metal heads won't. > This doesn't make much sense, to me anyway. If the 250meg tapes are just longer then how could the head design have anything to do with it? (Disregarding head-life issues.) -- Richard Foulk richard@pegasus.com
duncan@unisup1.UUCP (Duncan Anderson) (08/27/90)
Archive bought Maynard Electronics a while back, and now it is possible to get an implementation of the Maynard Maynstream software which, together with their controller and a packaged Archive 2150L(same drive as the 2150E), allows one to make full use of the new DC6250 tape cartridges. The software is available for SCO UNIX and XENIX. I am not sure if it is available for other versions of UNIX. regards Duncan Anderson email: duncan@unisup1
larry@nstar.uucp (Larry Snyder) (08/31/90)
duncan@unisup1.UUCP (Duncan Anderson) writes: >Archive bought Maynard Electronics a while back, and now >it is possible to get an implementation of the Maynard Maynstream >software which, together with their controller and a packaged >Archive 2150L(same drive as the 2150E), allows one to make full use >of the new DC6250 tape cartridges. The software is available for >SCO UNIX and XENIX. I am not sure if it is available for other >versions of UNIX. what are the differences between the 2150L, 2150E and the 2150S drives? -- Larry Snyder, Northern Star Communications, Notre Dame, IN USA uucp: uunet!samsung!romed!nstar!larry -or- larry@nstar Public Access Unix Site (219) 289-0282 (5 lines/PEP/HST/Hayes-V)