grl@brb.dmt.csiro.au (Greg Lehmann) (12/11/90)
HP recently announced a tape drive capable of handling tapes 50% longer. I guess this means 300ft in length. This sort of implies that their ordinary drives can't handle the longer tapes. Maybe it also implies that my drive (GIGAtrend) also won't handle the longer length. Anybody got any ideas on this? Also does anybody besides HP make these 180 min tapes. If I could get my hands on one I could try it out for myself. Apparently GIGAtrend are going to offer a compression upgrade to their existing units which also promises to expand the capacity of my backup medium. Longer tapes would mean I would get between 3GB and 6GB per tape. At present I only get about 1GB. Longer tapes would make this 1.5GB and the compression gives you somewhere between a 2-fold and 4-fold increase. -- Greg Lehmann, CSIRO Division of Manufacturing Technology, Telephone: +61 7 377 3877 c/- Dept. of Mining & Metallurgical Eng., Facsimile: +61 7 371 4461 The University of Queensland, QLD 4072. Internet: grl@brb.dmt.csiro.au
mark@hpcpbla.HP.COM (Mark Simms) (12/11/90)
The new long DAT tapes are currently being developed by several media manufacturers. They are 90m (295ft) as opposed to 60m (196ft). They require the tape to be thinner in order to fit it into the cassette. As such different materials have to be used. HP, like any reputable manufacturer cannot guarantee that any exisiting product will support a new tape made from a different material. When sufficient quantities of the new tapes are available, HP may test them with existing products to determine if there are any problems. If there are not, then the tape may be supported. Mark Simms ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Opinions expressed are my own and are not intended to be an official statement by Hewlett-Packard Company ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Name: Mark Simms Profession: Software Engineer Occupation: Research and Development Organization: Hewlett-Packard Computer Peripherals Division Unix-mail: mark%hpcpbla@hplb.hpl.hp.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------
paulmc@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Paul McClelland) (12/12/90)
Greg Lehmann writes: >HP announced a tape drive that handles tapes 50% longer. I guess this means >300ft. This means their ordinary drives can't handle longer tapes? Any ideas? >Also does anybody besides HP make these 180 min tapes. If I could get one to >try it out for myself. GIGAtrend is going to offer a compression upgrade for >their existing units which will expand the capacity of my backup medium. >Longer would mean I would get 1.5GB and with compression 3GB and 6GB per tape. >-- >Greg Lehmann, Yep, HP, WangDAT, Wangtech and almost everyone else in the DAT playground has announced these longer tapes. They are being sampled (Note: SAMPLED) by Kokak and Maxcell, only to companys who are producing or developing DAT machines, and (most likely) won't be ready for commercial use for six months or more. The main difference is that the tape is thinner. And yes some drives might not be able to handle the longer tape, if the expected tape lenth is imbedded in their micro-code, then your SOL. As for the compression, don't hold your breath, HP is the main supplier of one type of these chips, and started ship- ping samples two months or so ago. Other vendors are out there but none are cross compatible. So much for interchangeability. paulmc Normal disclaimer invoked. Normal .signature CENSORED! I used to work for HP, but they are degree crazy. I used to work for Pyramid, but they force non-degreed engineers to leave. I used to work for Sun, but they are plane crazy.